RASC News Agency: Pakistan is preparing to forcibly expel an additional 800,000 undocumented Afghanistani refugees. According to a report by Al Jazeera, the program to expel 800,000 undocumented Afghanistani migrants commenced yesterday Monday, July 1. The report indicates that refugees unwilling to leave Pakistan voluntarily will face arrest and forcible deportation.
Al Jazeera, an Arabic media outlet, reported that during the initial phase of the expulsion program, which began last November, Pakistan expelled 541,000 Afghanistani refugees, both forcibly and voluntarily. Before the initiation of the first phase of expulsions, Pakistan claimed that 4.4 million Afghanistani refugees were residing in the country, with approximately 1.073 million lacking legal residency documents.
Al Jazeera further reported that the decision to expel Afghanistani refugees was prompted by an uptick in terrorist attacks within Pakistan, allegedly carried out by groups operating from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The Taliban have consistently refuted these allegations made by Pakistani officials.
Meanwhile, Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has urged Pakistan to conduct a thorough assessment of refugees’ profiles before expulsion, stressing that many of these individuals “require international protection.”
It is noteworthy that over a thousand Afghanistani refugees were expelled from Pakistan last week. Concurrently, Iran has intensified its expulsion of Afghanistani migrants, deporting hundreds weekly.
