RAWALPINDI: As many as 1,040 Afghan nationals were brought to the Afghan refugee camp at Golra Mor on Tuesday, but 15 of them managed to escape.

Of the total number of Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders brought to the Afghan refugee holding centre, 964, including 199 females and 253 children, were deported back to their home country, sources said.

Following the government’s directives, the police continued their crackdown against Afghan nationals, they said.

On the other hand, Rawalpindi City Police Officer (CPO) Syed Khalid Hamdani directed the SPs of Rawal, Potohar and Saddar divisions to compile details of ACC holders who live in Rawalpindi district and who have either been relocated to the Afghan refugee camp or have voluntarily left for Afghanistan.

The CPO, in his directive to SPs, said that he had already ordered them to provide the list of 7,912 ACC holders so they could be detained and shifted to the Afghan refugees’ detention centre at Golra Mor for repatriation.

According to sources, the SPs had been asked to direct all the station house officers (SHOs) to ensure checking of Afghan nationals with ACCs and those who had still not been detained and shifted to the refugee camp.

The CPO also sought the details of the houses, with photographs, where they had been residing and an affidavit from the owners of those houses. All the details of ACC holders must be sent to the foreign branch of the CPO office on Tuesday, the sources said.

The government had officially set a deadline of March 31 for ACC holders to leave Pakistan voluntarily. However, the process of detaining Afghan nationals who do not have documentation and are residing in Rawalpindi and Islamabad is still underway.

On Tuesday, as many as 1,040 Afghan nationals, including 588 males, 100 females, and 253 children, were brought to the Afghan refugee camp near Golra Mor.

Of the total number of ACC holders, 964, including 550 males, 180 females, and 234 children, were deported back to Afghanistan. Fifteen individuals managed to escape.

The CPO expressed concern over the ‘disappointing’ performance of SHOs of all police stations regarding the detention of illegal Afghan nationals and directed them to report to him every four hours on progress in detaining illegal Afghans and shifting them to the camp.

The CPO also directed that SHOs whose performance was unsatisfactory must appear before him on Saturday to explain the reasons.

He categorised the Afghan nationals to be detained as ACC card holders, visa overstays and those having no legal proof of stay. However, the police have been directed not to detain Afghans holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards.

The district police had already chalked out a security plan for the Golra Mor camp. A team of police officials headed by an SP has been deployed around the detention centre to ensure security. The road passing in front of the detention centre has been declared a highly sensitive area.

As part of the move against illegal foreigners, including Afghan nationals, the intelligence agencies have been monitoring the implementation of the repatriation plan of Afghan nationals.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2025