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• High-level meeting chaired by interior minister briefed on deportation plan
• Citizens warned against renting out properties to illegal foreigners
• Committee formed to consider KP CM’s suggestion for talks with Kabul
ISLAMABAD: The government has made arrangements to detain and expel a certain category of Afghan citizens after the March 31 deadline for their voluntary return to Afghanistan.
Earlier this year, the government ordered the Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders to leave Pakistan by the end of March or face deportation passes.
The government has decided to move forward with the repatriation despite requests by global human rights bodies to reconsider the decision.
A high-level meeting was held on Friday, three days before the deadline, to review arrangements to repatriate ACC holders after the March 31 deadline.
The meeting, chaired by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, was informed by officials that all arrangements have been completed to send ACC holders back to Afghanistan.
The officials said that holding centres have been set up to detain Afghan citizens before their deportation, with food and healthcare facilities arranged at the facilities.
Mr Naqvi said the federal government was coordinating with the provinces regarding the repatriation process. He said Islamabad would provide full support to the provinces for the repatriation process.
The meeting decided that Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry would visit the provinces to resolve any issues during the repatriation process.
Mr Naqvi also directed the authorities to treat foreign nationals respectfully during the repatriation process.
A door-to-door awareness campaign about the repatriation was underway and the mapping of ACC holders had also been completed, the meeting was told.
ACC is an identification document issued to registered Afghan nationals by Nadra.
According to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration, ACC gives temporary legal status to Afghans during their stay in Pakistan. However, the federal government makes the decision on the duration for which the ACC would remain valid.
The meeting was attended by Mr Chaudhry; federal secretaries for interior and Kashmir affairs, Gilgit-Baltistan and states and frontier regions; chief secretaries and inspectors general of police of all provinces; FIA director general, police chief and deputy commissioner of Islamabad; National Action Plan coordinator; and representatives from the ministry of foreign affairs and law and security agencies.
Imprisonment and fine
A government official told Dawn that crackdowns would be launched after the deadline against ACC holders across the country.
He said citizens renting their properties to illegal Afghan nationals will also face consequences.
Search operations would be conducted to track illegal Afghans and their biometric records would be maintained in official records to bar their entry into the country in future.
The identity and travel documents fraudulently obtained by Afghan nations will be cancelled. They will also face imprisonment and fines, along with their abettors, added the official, who wished not to be named.
Committee formed
The meeting also decided to form a committee to consider the recommendation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur for talks with the Afghan Taliban on terrorism.
Mr Gandapur had requested the federal government to formally entrust him the responsibility of holding talks with the Afghan government.
He had also submitted a proposed peace plan to the ministries of interior and foreign affairs.
Reaction from rights bodies
The repatriation of ACC holders was part of the second phase of the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Programme, which started in November 2023.
The move was announced in a government notification dated January 29.
The federal government also decided to relocate Afghan nationals — including those with UNHCR-issued Proof of Registration (PoR) cards — out of Islamabad and Rawalpindi by March 31.
The deportation plan has been severely criticised by global human rights bodies.
They said the deadline has left hundreds of thousands of Afghans in an increasingly precarious and vulnerable position.
Earlier this week, Amnesty International deplored the treatment of Afghan migrants by Pakistani authorities, saying thousands were being “harassed, unlawfully detained, and forced to leave the country”.
“The Pakistani government’s plans to arbitrarily and forcibly expel Afghan nationals, including refugees and asylum seekers, as part of the opaque ‘Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan’ will only add to their plight”, Amnesty International said in a statement on Wednesday.
The rights body called the March 31 deadline “unyielding and cruel”, which shows “little respect for international human rights law, particularly the principle of non-refoulement”.
However, the Foreign Office has called claims about the mistreatment of Afghans “misplaced”.
It said that Pakistan had hosted millions of Afghans for decades with respect and dignity even with “very little international support”.
Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2025
