RAWALPINDI:As part of the strategy to repatriate illegal foreigners, a joint sub-committee comprising police and intelligence officers has been formed to identify and profile Afghan nationals holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, facilitating operational teams in their efforts

According to sources, the JSC will comprise District Officer of Rawalpindi Special Branch, Deputy Superintendent of Police Security Rawalpindi, representative of Ministry of SAFRON, representatives of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Intelligence Bureau, and other intelligence agencies.

The committee will ensure profiling of PoR card holders provided by representatives of the Ministry of SAFRON through their respective field formation and real time information about the location of illegal foreigners shall be shared with the police for implementation of illegal foreigners repatriation plan (IFRP).

The government has already chalked out a comprehensive strategy to expedite formal repatriation of Afghan nationals holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards as part of the ongoing implementation of the illegal foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP).

Deportation of PoR card holders to begin from Sept 1

As part of the government strategy, the Chief Secretaries and inspector generals of Police of four provinces, Gilgit Baltistan, Director Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), chief commissioner Islamabad and other authorities concerned have been informed that the voluntary return of PoR card holders should be done without delay.

The repatriation of illegal foreign nationals, including Afghan Citizen Card ACC holders will continue as per the earlier decision under the IFRP.

“It has also been decided that the voluntary return of PoR card holders shall commence forthwith, while the formal repatriation and deportation process will take effect from September 1.”

The decision was taken at a meeting held in the Ministry of Interior and Narcotics Control Islamabad early this month.

It was decided to convey the decision to the concerned that Afghan nationals holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards shall be repatriated to Afghanistan as part of ongoing implementation of the illegal foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP).

As part of the plan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall engage with Interim Afghan Government (IAG), UHCR and international community, if needed. Likewise the ministry of Kashmir Affairs, Gilgit Baltistan and SAFRON will provide database of PoR cards to respective provincial, divisional and district committees.

It was also decided that National Database & Registration Authority (Nadra) shall make arrangements for deregistration of returnees at transit areas and border terminals along with requisite capacity at border terminals. All the provincial governments and relevant agencies shall ensure mapping of all PoR card holders and devise provincial Action Plans and share with the Ministry of Interior.

All the provincial governments and relevant agencies shall designate transit areas for the stay of the deportees and arrange for the transportation of the deportees and the financial requirements.

Likewise, the provincial governments will operationalise the provincial, divisional and district level implementation committees to review and suggest adjustments in the repatriation process.

As part of the strategy, the control room will be reactivated at provincial level while the control room at the federal level will be activated in National crisis information management cell (NCIMC).

NCIMC shall establish a complaint redressal cell with a hotline for redressing the grievances related to the repatriation process.

All stakeholders shall ensure that the repatriation process is implemented in an organized manner without the possibility of any maltreatment or abuses. And monitoring progress of the repatriation process shall be made by Foreign Nationals Security Dashboard (FNSD) while the daily progress report will be prepared by FNSD.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2025