LANDI KOTAL: Cross-border movement of Afghan nationals via Torkham has considerably reduced after a countrywide crackdown on people from the neighbouring country living here illegally was launched after the Dec 16 terrorist attack on a school in Peshawar.

According to officials, about 150 to 180 Afghan nationals are being arrested every day in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab for not having valid travel documents and deported to Afghanistan via Torkham border, while around 100 families voluntarily return to their country.

The Torkham administration officials told Dawn that the cross-border movement of Afghans had been curtailed by almost 40 per cent.

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They said most of the Afghans now entering Pakistan possessed travel documents or ‘Proof of Registration’ cards issued by the Afghan Commissionerate for temporary residence here.

“We have intensified checking of travel documents of all Afghans aspiring to enter Pakistan for various reasons,” they said, adding no lenience was being shown to those lacking visa.

They said the process of deportation had also gained momentum after police initiated raids against Afghans residing illegally in cities and towns across the country.

“On an average we have deported 150 illegal Afghans to Afghanistan on a daily basis during the past one and a half months,” they said.

The officials said thousands of Afghan families that had been unlawfully living in cities of Punjab, Azad Kashmir and Hazara division for three decades had also started voluntarily returning to their country because of fear of police action and deportation. 

Cab drivers operating between Torkham and Peshawar said that their business had been badly affected because of the reduction in the number of Afghans coming to Pakistan.

They said about 2,000 of the 5,000 cabs operating on the route had gone off the road because of paucity of passengers. 

The drivers said harsh treatment of Afghans by Khasadar and Levies personnel at checkpoints on the Peshawar-Torkham road, as well as manhandling by Peshawar police, were also the main reasons for the considerable reduction in border crossings.

Published in Dawn February 7th , 2015

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