The deadline has passed, and thousands of Afghan refugees in Pakistan have returned home

Thousands of Afghan refugees living in different cities across Pakistan flocked to the border to return to their country. Afghans, forming a queue of meters at the border, are leaving the country in trucks and buses loaded with their belongings.

Pakistani Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said that the government will start taking action against illegal immigrants from tomorrow. He stated that unregistered foreign citizens discovered by the security teams will be detained and sent to their countries after completing their procedures.

The Pakistani government had called on illegal immigrants to leave the country by November 1 due to the increase in armed attacks in areas bordering Afghanistan last month.

United Nations institutions and human rights organizations responded to Pakistan’s decision to deport refugees. The UN statement said that the freedom and lives of Afghans are in danger and therefore they should not return to their country.

It is estimated that 1.7 million of the more than 4 million Afghans living in Pakistan are in the country illegally. According to Pakistani Interior Ministry data, between 600,000 and 800,000 Afghan refugees in the country have migrated to the country after the Taliban regained control in 2021.
After the Pakistani government’s statement, more than 200,000 Afghans returned to their country.