The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) government in Pakistan has announced a significant operation aimed at expelling thousands of illegal Afghan residents from the provincial capital, Peshawar. This move comes as part of an ongoing deportation effort that has compelled approximately 340,000 Afghans to leave Pakistan in recent weeks, PTI reported.
A senior official from the KPK government stated on Saturday that the decision to launch the grand operation is in response to national security concerns, citing Pakistan's claim that Afghan nationals were responsible for 14 out of 24 major terrorist attacks in the country this year. However, the Taliban-led government in Kabul has rejected these allegations.
In preparation for the operation, a joint meeting chaired by Deputy Commissioner Peshawar Fahd Wazir and Senior Superintendent of Police Kashif Abbasi was held on Friday. The Peshawar district administration and police have established special teams under the supervision of divisional SPs to carry out the eviction of illegal Afghan residents.
The special teams have been equipped with comprehensive lists and data on illegal Afghans residing in Peshawar. Their task involves arresting Afghan nationals without proper documents and relocating them to the Juma Khan Holding Camp in Nasir Bagh, from where they will be deported to Afghanistan via the Torkham border.
To ensure a targeted approach, officials note that Afghans holding Proof of Registration and Afghan Citizen Cards are exempt from deportation, and special teams have been formed to verify their documents.
The deportation effort has sparked concerns among Afghans who have been in Pakistan for decades, with many expressing a need for more time as they lack homes in Afghanistan. The crackdown was initiated last month, targeting an estimated 1.7 million Afghans living in Pakistan illegally.
As Afghanistan establishes a commission in Kabul to handle repatriations from Pakistan, Bilal Karimi, the spokesperson for the refugee commission of Afghanistan's Taliban-led administration, reported that 340,608 Afghans have returned thus far.
The sudden increase in returnees has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide health facilities at the Torkham and Chaman border crossings. The WHO, in a Thursday statement, expressed concerns about potential disease outbreaks and transmission of wild poliovirus at entry points, appealing for USD 10 million to provide health services for the anticipated 700,000 Afghan returnees.
This development follows UN human rights chief Volker Turk's recent statement expressing alarm over reports of abuse accompanying the arbitrary expulsion of Afghan nationals from Pakistan, including ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests, detention, destruction of property, and extortion.
