Large numbers of Afghans crammed into trucks and buses in Pakistan on Tuesday, heading to the border to return home hours before the expiration of a Pakistani government deadline for those who are in the country illegally to leave or face deportation.
The deadline is part of a new anti-migrant crackdown that targets all undocumented or unregistered foreigners, according to Islamabad.
But it mostly affects Afghans, who make up the bulk of migrants in Pakistan.
The expulsion campaign has drawn widespread criticism from UN agencies, rights groups and the Taliban-led administration in Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials warn that people who are in the country illegally face arrest and deportation after October 31.
UN agencies say there are more than two million undocumented Afghans in Pakistan, at least 600,000 of whom fled after the Taliban takeover in 2021.
Although the government insists it is not targeting Afghans, the campaign comes amid strained relations between Pakistan and the Taliban rulers next door.
Islamabad accuses Kabul of turning a blind eye to Taliban-allied militants who find shelter in Afghanistan, from where they go back and forth across the two countries’ shared 1,600-mile border to stage attacks in Pakistan. The Taliban deny the accusations.
“My father came to Pakistan 40 years ago,” said 52-year-old Mohammad Amin, speaking in Peshawar, the capital of the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.
“He died here. My mother also died here and their graves are in Pakistan,” said Mr Amin, originally from Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province. “We are going back today as we never tried to register ourselves as refugees with the UN refugee agency.”
Pakistani officials said the Torkam and Chaman border crossings with Afghanistan will remain open beyond their daily 4pm closure to allow for those who have arrived there to leave the country.
More than 200,000 Afghans have returned home since the crackdown was launched, according to Pakistani officials. UN agencies have reported a sharp increase in Afghans leaving Pakistan ahead of the deadline.
The crackdown has worried thousands of Afghans in Pakistan waiting for relocation to the United States under a special refugee programme since fleeing the Taliban takeover.
