Sawt Falasteen - Thousands of Afghans depart Pakistan under repatriation pressure

Pakistan last month set an early April deadline for some 800,000 Afghans carrying Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) issued by Pakistan authorities to leave the country, another phase in Islamabad's campaign in recent years to remove Afghans from the country.

Families with their belongings in tow lined up at the key border crossings of Torkham in the north and Spin Boldak in the south, recalling similar scenes in 2023 when tens of thousands of Afghans fled deportation threats in Pakistan.

"In the last 2 days, 8,025 undocumented & ACC holders returned via Torkham & Spin Boldak crossings," the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a post on social media platform X on Monday.

Taliban officials also said thousands of people had crossed the border, but at lower rates than the IOM reported.

Refugee ministry spokesman Abdul Mutalib Haqqani told AFP that 6,000-7,000 Afghans had returned since the start of April, warning that the numbers could increase in the coming days after the end of the holidays marking the end of Ramadan.

"We are urging Pakistan authorities not to deport them (Afghans) forcefully -- there should be a proper mechanism with an agreement between both countries, and they must be returned with dignity," he said.

The UN says nearly three million Afghans live in Pakistan, many having fled there over decades of war in their country and after the return of the Taliban to power in Kabul in 2021.

Ties between the neighbouring countries have frayed since the Taliban takeover, with Pakistan accusing Kabul's rulers of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil, a charge the Taliban government denies.

G.AbuGhazaleh--SF-PST