LOWER DIR: Although Afghan refugee camps in Lower Dir have been vacated and most of the nearly 41,000 Afghan nationals, who had been living in the district for decades, have either voluntarily returned to Afghanistan or left following administrative pressure, sources claim that some of them are still residing and doing business in various parts of the district.

A special meeting, chaired by Deputy Commissioner Basharat Ahmad, on Monday was briefed regarding the repatriation process of Afghan nationals. The meeting also reviewed the status of undocumented Afghan nationals and those residing in Pakistan on sponsorship visas.

The deputy commissioner directed all assistant commissioners to hold meetings with relevant DSPs, SHOs and Special Branch officials and establish contact with Pakistani citizens sponsoring Afghan nationals.

He instructed officials to ensure evacuation of Afghan nationals from their respective subdivisions within two days and submit compliance reports.

A senior official told Dawn that majority of Afghan nationals had already returned to their homeland. He said that around 4,200 Afghans possessing Proof of Registration (PoR) cards or Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) were still present in the district.

He said that all refugee camps in Lower Dir were cleared and government would not tolerate continued presence of undocumented Afghan nationals in the district.

He said that clear instructions were issued about repatriation of undocumented Afghans. He added that district administration would bear their transportation expenses up to Torkham border crossing.

However, sources said that some Afghans, who returned to Afghanistan, later re-entered Pakistan through Chaman border and eventually made their way back to Lower Dir. They said that scores of undocumented Afghan nationals were still living in the district.

Another senior official said all police stations in the district were directed to keep a close watch on undocumented Afghan nationals and report their presence to the administration so that appropriate action could be taken to facilitate their repatriation.

LICENCES: Nearly 2,000 driving light transport vehicle (LTV) licences issued over the past three years remain uncollected at the Lower Dir deputy commissioner’s office despite repeated efforts by the administration to contact their holders.

Officials said that the licences, issued during 2022, 2023 and 2024, were still lying in the licence branch of the DC office, creating storage problems as new licences continued to be processed daily.

They said that licence branch staff had personally contacted applicants on numerous occasions after their licences were prepared, but many of them failed to visit the office to collect them.

The district administration has urged people to collect their licences without delay by visiting the licence branch at the DC office with their original national identity card and fee receipt.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2026