LANDI KOTAL: The Khyber Agency political administration on Friday resumed its ‘clean up’ operation against the illegal Afghans living near the border and demolished over a dozen mud houses.

Sources said that a number of the unregistered Afghan families who were evicted from their houses also left for Afghanistan on Friday. The exact number of such families was not available with the officials of the political administration.

The sources said that out of the total 318 unregistered Afghan families previously residing in Bacha Maina locality near the border, a majority had, however, shifted to Landi Kotal and Peshawar and had taken temporary refuge with their relatives in those areas.

The political administration had on Monday started demolishing their houses after the expiry of a three-day deadline on Sunday for vacating their houses. Officials had earlier said that all illegal families would be deported to Afghanistan and no one would then be allowed to come back without valid visa.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2016