Pakistan denies delay in deportation of undocumented migrants

Afghan Voice Agency (AVNA)-International Service: Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters in Islamabad on Thursday that the first phase of deportation of illegal immigrants from Pakistan continues and a large number of migrants are being deported. They have been expelled from this country.

 

"As I said earlier, Pakistan has not informed the UNHCR about the delay in the deportation of undocumented migrants or the non-implementation of the plan. On what basis has the UNHCR issued a statement, You can ask the spokesman of the department."

 

Islamabad has postponed the forced return of undocumented Afghan migrants for humanitarian reasons, UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said at the end of a three-day visit to Pakistan on Tuesday.

 

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement that Grandi thanked Pakistan for delaying the deportation of foreign migrants living illegally in the country.

 

But a Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman told reporters that the government was implementing the plan to deport illegal immigrants, like other countries in the world, based on the country's laws, especially the immigration law.

 

"Pakistan's laws are very clear on this. These people [undocumented foreign nationals] may face fines, may be imprisoned under special cases and may be deported," Baloch added.

 

But a Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman told reporters that no decision had been taken on the second phase of deportation of illegal immigrants. He added that security forces continue to search for and deport illegal immigrants from Pakistan.

 

"The cabinet has decided to extend the stay of POR card holders, as the residence validity of migrants with such cards expired on June 30. In order to legalize the stay of these people and create facilities for them, to The next decision was to extend their stay for another year.

 

The Pakistani government first issued POR cards to 1.3 million Afghan migrants in 2006, and since then the cards have been renewed five times.

 

According to UN and Pakistani officials, 1.3 million Afghans living in Pakistan are registered as refugees and nearly 900 others have Afghan citizenship cards. The rest are either undocumented or have expired visas waiting to settle in a third country.

 

In early October last year, Pakistan gave all undocumented foreign migrants, including 1.7 million Afghans, a deadline to leave the country voluntarily by November 1, 2023, or face detention and detention. They will be forcibly evicted.

 

The United Nations said on June 10 that nearly 492,000 Afghan refugees had returned to Afghanistan or been forcibly deported from September 15 to the end of 2023 and 127,000 from January 1 to June 1, 2024.

 

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 3.1 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, of whom 1.4 million have residence cards and 1.3 million are undocumented.