PAKISTAN RESUMES PROCESS OF FORCED DEPORTATIONS OF UNDOCUMENTED AFGHANS

Fri 22 March 2024:

Pakistani officials said on Tuesday that they will resume the process of forced deportation of Afghan immigrants from that country.

This comes after Pakistan carried out airstrikes on residential houses in Barmal district of Paktika province and Spera district of Khost province on Sunday night.

As a result of these airstrikes, three women and three children died in Paktika and two women died in Khost.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, said that by the order of the Ministry of Defense, nine Pakistani military bases were then targeted, resulting in casualties to Pakistani forces, but he did not provide specific numbers of Pakistani military casualties.

But according to Mujahid, the border clashes between the Pakistani forces and the Islamic Emirate, which started after Pakistan’s airstrikes on Afghanistan, have ended.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in January this year that more than 500,000 Afghan migrants left Pakistan without documents after Islamabad set a November deadline. According to this deadline, migrants without documents, including Afghans, must leave the country, otherwise they will be arrested.

Pakistan defended its decision citing security concerns and economic pressures in that country.

But analysts believe the goal of Islamabad is to put pressure on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan regarding the presence of extremists, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A high-ranking government official in Khyber-Pashtunkhwa province, who did not want to be named in the report, told AFP: “The second phase of the return of illegal Afghan immigrants will begin after Eid.”

But he added that: “The details of this stage have not been revealed yet.”

Meanwhile, a senior police official in the city of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, also confirmed to AFP that the second phase of the forced deportation operation targeting “illegal Afghans” will begin after Eid.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police forces have been ordered to identify areas where undocumented Afghans live, he said on condition of anonymity in the report.

But this high-ranking Peshawar police official said that the federal government of Khyber Pashtunkhwa province has not yet issued specific instructions on the nature of this operation.

He said that the police has already started gathering information about Afghans living in the area.

In recent decades, millions of Afghans have fled to Pakistan to escape violent conflicts.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

______________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22