Pakistan: The Pakistan government has ordered nearly 1.73 million Afghan nationals and other undocumented immigrants to leave the country by November 1, 2023.
“We have given them a November 1 deadline,” Interior Minister Mr. Sarfraz Bugti said. It comes following claims by Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, that 14 of the 24 suicide bombings in the country this year were carried out by Afghan nationals.
Mr. Bugti stated that about 1.73 million Afghan nationals residing in Pakistan lack proper legal documents to stay. The Minister also mentioned that Pakistan is currently hosting a total of 4.4 million Afghan refugees.
“There are no two opinions that we are attacked from within Afghanistan and Afghan nationals are involved in attacks on us. We have evidence,” Mr. Bugti remarked.
Islamabad has experienced the largest surge of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. According to the latest United Nations data, approximately 1.3 million Afghans are registered as refugees in Pakistan, and an additional 880,000 have legal status to stay.
“If they do not go, … then all the law enforcement agencies in the provinces or federal government will be utilised to deport them,” Mr. Bugti observed.
Pakistan’s announcement, criticized as “harassment” by the Afghan embassy in Islamabad, signifies a worsening in relations with Kabul. Tensions escalated after border clashes between the two neighbouring South Asian countries last month.
In a statement released on X, the embassy stated that over the last two weeks, more than 1,000 Afghans were arrested, with half of them having legal rights to stay in Pakistan.
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