Peshawar: Federal Government’s decision to expel Afghan nationals with registration test cards (POR), the last category of refugees who legally live in the country without visas, has left the more than one million people in panic.
The Interior Ministry issued a special regulatory order (SRO) on Thursday, saying that the cards for June 30 of this year, which makes the stay of its headlines in the country illegal. Allowed the administration of the district, the police, the prosecution, the prisons and all the other authorities to take the appropriate measures for the arrest and the detention, either in the prison or other adequate facilities, and the repatriation of all those illegal foreigners.
“The federal government is pleased to invoke the provisions of subsections (I), (2) (c), (2) (I) and (2) (g) of Section 3 of the Foreigners Law, 1946, in relation to the owners of PAHO cards immediately,” said the SRO.
After the issuance of SRO, the Department of Tribal and Home and Tribal Affairs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa made a public announcement about the deportation of Afghans with cards by. It was also published in Saturday newspapers.
UNHCR says that the government’s decision raises serious concerns about refugee protection, legal status
In the announcement, the department said that since the cards had expired on June 30, their headlines were illegally in the country.
He added that the Government had already implemented the deportation decision of undocumented Afghans, as well as holders of Afghan citizens (AAC).
“The permanence of all those Afghan citizens without having a Pakistani visa in a valid passport is illegal, therefore, they must go to the homeland,” he said.
The department also said that the KP government had established traffic points in the Peshawar and Landikotal area of the Khyber tribal district to organize the Afghan that return.
Although the validity of by Cards expired on June 30 of this year, their holders expected the authorities to extend their stay, as they always used to do.
The Ministry of State and the border regions issued at least three notifications in June and July of this year, ordering the police and other authorities that will not arrest those who meet cards by, block their telephone Sim accounts and cards, giving them more hope about the possible extension of their stay in the country.
President of the Afghan Tajir of Muttahida Ittehad Syed Naqeeb Badshah said Sunrise That the “sudden decision of expelling Afghanos” was an imprudent decision.
He said that only a few weeks ago, the Safron Ministry had transmitted to the government departments that the case for the extension of the holders of the holders was being presented to the federal cabinet.
Badshah said it was cruel to order millions of people to leave immediately, who stayed here for decades.
“I’m not sure if Afghan refugees are victims of politics or something else happened,” he said.
The president said there were about 40,000 Afghan businessmen in Peshawar, who had invested from RS1 million to RS1 billion in Pakistan.
“The Pakistani government wakes up a good day and asks these people, including 559 having invested more than RS1 billion in the country, that they leave immediately. This makes no sense,” he said.
Badshah said that Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi owed in Islamabad next week to hold conversations with the Pakistani authorities, UNHCR, IOM and refugee leaders.
“This decision is unilateral and we have repeatedly asked the Pakistani leaders to review it,” he said.
An Afghan leather garment designer said Sunrise Under anonymity that notification had spread fear and panic among Afghans living in Pakistan.
“Each Afghan is affected by fear and there is not even a forum where we could request,” he said.
He said they were entrepreneurs and not refugees.
“At least 22 workers are working with me and fear of refugees, since a burden was unfounded,” he said.
UNHCR Pakistan Qaiser Khan Afridi spokesman said “deep concern for the latest worrying developments” regarding the implementation of the Islamabad plan to repatriate refugees registered with cards by.
“We have seen recent notification [SRO] That was issued by the Ministry of Interior on July 31 with respect to the launch of phase III of the illegal foreigners’s repatriation plan and are monitoring the relevant authorities to clarify the implications for registered refugees, ”he said.
He said that the SRO, which made card holders for present in the country illegal, raised serious concerns about their protection and legal status, not to mention the serious interruptions in income and education.
“The refugee legal nature of the people affected by the threat of deportation remains, and forced yields could breach the principle of not restarting again, where states are obliged not to return people to countries where their life or freedom could be threatened,” he said.
Aphridi added that UNHCR advocated the protection of all refugees and that any return must be carried out voluntarily, safely and dignifiedly, in line with international principles.
According to UNHCR, there were more than 1.3 million Afghan in Pakistan as of June 30, 2025. More than half of them (717,945) lived in KP, 326,584 in Baluchistan, 195,188 in Punjab, 75,510 in Sindh and 43,154 in Islamabad.
After a national Afghan census in 2004-05, the Pakistani government with the help of UNHCR issued a registration card (by) to the Afghan refugees, while in 2016, through an amendment in the Foreign Law of 1946, the Afghan citizenship city (ACC) was introduced.
Since November 2023, when the Pakistani authorities began to implement the illegal foreigner repatriation plan, undocumented and AAC card holders have abandoned the country, while Afghans with cards per are the only category of those who still legally remain in Pakistan.
The figures from July 1 to 15 of the report on the monitoring of biweekly flow of the IOM of the Afghan of deposit.
The IIM report declared that during the report period (July 1 to 15, 2025), the fear of arrest (93pc) remained an important reason for respondents to return. “In addition, 29 percent reported that they returned because a family member was deported,” he said.
Posted in Dawn, August 3, 2025
