Official sources told on Tuesday that information on Afghan migrants, including those who are legally residents of the nation, is being compiled in front of a fresh round of evictions that is set to begin after Eid.
As tensions between Islamabad and Kabul worsened over security last year, almost half a million Afghans left Pakistan after the former administration ordered unauthorized migrants to leave or face imprisonment.
Islamabad had originally set a deadline of November 2023, but two officials—who wished to remain anonymous—stated that evictions will start up again in the upcoming weeks.
According to a senior government official in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), “this time, instructions have been given to also collect data and conduct mapping of legally resident Afghan citizens.”
According to a senior K-P police officer, “police have sprung into action regarding Afghan citizens” even though “a final decision” has not yet been made by the government.
“The federal government has directed to not only collect data of legal and illegal Afghan citizens but also to conduct their mapping,” he stated.
Before, two unnamed officials told that a fresh round of evictions will start after Eid, which is scheduled for the second week of April.
A request for comment was not answered by the interior ministry.
Islamabad has previously stated that its struggling economy and security reasons justify the enormous eviction operation.
However, experts claim that its purpose is to exert pressure on Kabul about the escalating assaults in the nation’s border areas with Afghanistan, where the Taliban regime is charged with providing safe shelter and support to extremists.
The claims have been repeatedly refuted by the Taliban administration.
Over the years, millions of Afghans have fled decades of spiraling violence and flowed into Pakistan.
Last year, Afghans who fled Pakistan were only permitted to bring a limited amount of cash and personal things across the border, and they did so during one of the worst humanitarian crises in history.
Some were born in Pakistan to Afghan parents and had never previously set foot in Afghanistan.
Since the Taliban regime took control in August 2021 and enforced its strict version of Islamic law, an estimated 600,000 people have come.
Islamabad believed that there were 1.7 million Afghans residing in the nation illegally before to the start of the first round of evictions.
Eight people were killed last week in Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan’s border regions, according to Taliban sources, exacerbating the standoff between Islamabad and Kabul.
President Asif Ali Zardari pledged retaliation and attributed the killing of seven Pakistani troops on Pakistani soil to foreign forces, which prompted Islamabad’s strike.
I am a dedicated student currently in my seventh semester, pursuing a degree in International Relations. Alongside my academic pursuits, I am actively engaged in the professional field as a content writer at the Rangeinn website.