The Afghan interim government under the Taliban on Tuesday called upon the United Nations and international organisations to ensure the dignified return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, according to a press release.

Pakistan has in recent days witnessed hundreds of Afghans dragging their belongings across the Torkham and Chaman borders as the government began its second drive of deportations on March 31, which targeted those holding Afghan Citizen Cards — an identity document jointly issued by the Pakistani and Afghan governments in 2017.

The drive is part of a larger campaign that the government began in 2023 to repatriate all illegal foreigners. Under the first phase, all undocumented Afghans were deported, those who didn’t have identity proof.

The press release issued from the Afghan Presidential Palace (Arg) in Kabul said that a special meeting chaired by the acting prime minister of the Afghan Taliban regime, Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund, called upon the United Nations and international organisations to ensure the dignified return of Afghan refugees.

The session attended by cabinet members emphasised a strong condemnation of these actions as against fundamental human rights, the statement added.

“Officials described the treatment of Afghan refugees as contrary to accepted principles,” the statement said, adding that the meeting called for the people, political parties, and influential figures in Pakistan to uphold their neighborly responsibilities in this matter.

Dawn.com reached out to the Foreign Office for a comment but did not receive a response.

“The participants highlighted the long-standing positive relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, stressing the importance of maintaining these ties for the benefit of both nations and their peoples,” it added.

The meeting’s participants “warned that inappropriate actions could undermine this relationship,” according to the press release.

“The commitment to fostering cooperation and compassion was a central theme, reflecting the shared history and cultural connections between the two countries,” the statement said.

The Afghan Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation Affairs issued a separate statement “condemning the forced deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan.”

As part of the ongoing deportation process, 1,636 Afghan nationals were deported from Punjab and Sindh on Sunday.

The largest transfer took place in Punjab, where 5,111 other Afghan nationals were transported to the transit camps or holding centres across the province for repatriation, including 2,301 children and 1,120 women.

A majority of them carried Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) that NADRA had issued them after getting each case verified from the FIA, police and other agencies.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq Khan, on Monday had warned that “all deals with Afghanistan are off” if the Taliban rulers failed to act on Islamabad’s growing concerns regarding terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.

Pakistani officials have long been saying that leaders of the armed groups operate from Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan. Kabul denies the assertions.

“TTP (Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan) is a challenge, a big challenge for us. It cannot be tolerated because our young kids and boys are getting killed every day. Martyrdom has become so common in certain areas. That is sort of, it would be criminal to ignore that. And we have to find a solution.

“Afghanistan will have to work with us on this. If they are not working with us, then all deals are off. Nothing could have happened. There would be no further progress on anything,” he had said.