PESHAWAR: A crackdown has begun against undocumented foreign nationals in several districts following the expiry of the July 10 deadline, while police have been directed to treat returning families with courtesy.
An official said 3,652 Afghan nationals returned to their country during the last 24 hours. It is learnt that more than 1.4 million Afghans have returned home since 2023. Police and district administrations have started the drive against Afghan nationals after the documents legalising their stay in Pakistan expired several months ago. Teams from the district administrations and police are facilitating Afghan families returning to their country through the Torkham border crossing.
Capital City Police Officer, Peshawar, Dr Mian Saeed Ahmad has warned that strict action will be taken against police officers and other personnel if they were found demanding money or harassing Afghan families during the drive. The cops were directed to effectively carry out the campaign and facilitate the return of the Afghan families to their country while being polite and humane.
Teams of district administration and police conducted surveys and identified the large population in different areas.
A large number of families continued returning to their country via Torkham from different parts of Peshawar, where most of them were left. The repatriation continued from Hayatabad, Taj Abad, Board, Tehkal, Kohat Road, Charsadda Road, Afghan Colony, Sethi Town, Khazana, Rasheed Garhi, Phandu Road and many other localities where police and district administration had asked them to return. Families also continued to return from Nowshera and Khyber district.
The federal government had set July 10 as deadline for all the foreigners without legal and valid travel documents. The provincial governments and the concerned forces and departments were directed to take action against all those foreigners who do not possess valid travel documents.
The deputy commissioners and district police officers have been directed to identify all the illegally staying foreigners in their respective areas so legal action can be taken against them.
Action was previously taken in other provinces but Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continued soft policy against Afghans who have been in the country for over four decades. Despite that, thousands of Afghans are returning home daily. All the camps of the refugees have been closed across KP and Pakistan in the last few months. Thousands of Afghans owned large and small-scale businesses in Peshawar and other cities for the last many decades. Besides, tens of thousands were vendors and doing other jobs, living a respectable life for decades. A large number of them are yet to wind up businesses in Pakistan despite several deadlines given to them by the government.
October 2023 was set as the deadline for the return of all the unregistered Afghans, after which hundreds of thousands returned to their homeland.
Later, the government set March 31, 2025, as the deadline for all the illegal Afghans as well as those who possessed ACC cards, to return to their country.
Last year, the Government asked all the Afghan refugees, including those who possessed Proof of Registration Cards and other such documents, to return to their country by August 30, as all their documents had expired.
