• Tallal Chaudhry rules out any extension in the deadline for the repatriation of the headlines of the Afghan citizen card • The minister says that general relaxation is not possible for those who expect visas, but individual cases can be considered
Islamabad: Thousands of Afghan refugees waiting for resettlement to Western countries will be deported from Pakistan if their host nations do not relocate them on April 30, a key government minister said Thursday.
In the midst of the calls for Pakistan to stop the deportation of Afghan citizens, the Minister of State Tallal Chaudhry also ruled out any extension on the deadline for the repatriation of the headlines of the Afghan Citizens Card (ACC), which expired on March 31.
At a press conference, the minister revealed that up to 857,157 undocumented foreign citizens so far had been sent back to their countries.
The ACC holders had been asked to voluntarily before March 31, he said, adding that there would be no extension for them.
He also said that many people had been approved for resettlement by several third countries, but the process has faced delays.
Chaudhry said a uniform extension for such individuals was not possible, but the government could consider individual cases based on ‘convincing reasoning’. He said that a document regime would be completely implemented, requiring valid visas and passports to enter Pakistan.
He recalled that the policy of repatriating illegal foreigners had been in force since October 2023 and listed its phases: in the first phase, undocumented foreigners were sent without legal documents. In the second phase, the Afghan citizen card
The headlines are being repatriated, while in the third phase, those who have registration test cards (by) will be deported.
He explained that the decision to expel these people was in light of current land realities and security concerns. It had been observed that Afghan citizens were involved in narcotics and terrorism in Pakistan, he said.
Discussing the arrangements to guarantee the dignity of the ACC holders, he said that all the provinces, including Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, were completely aboard this initiative.
He said that 38 traffic points have been established in Punjab, three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two in Sindh, three in Kashmir Azad and one in Baluchistan, Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan.
He said that ACC holders remained in these facilities before their trip to Afghanistan, and added that they were provided with refuge, food, medical care and transport facilities.
Sharing the number of registered Afghan nationals, the minister said there were 815,247 card holders of Afghan citizens, while 1,469,522 were registered under the program by.
Answering a question, he said that there was a mechanism to track and deport Afghans who were not registered in the ACNUR or expect resettlement to a third country.
Posted in Dawn, April 11, 2025
