TEHRAN, May 1: Iran on Tuesday defended its plan to repatriate one million Afghans living illegally in the Islamic Republic and said 50,000 had been sent home since the campaign was launched 11 days ago.

The Afghan government on Sunday called on neighbouring Iran to suspend the repatriations because the country lacked the resources to resettle them.

After Pakistan, Iran accounts for the largest number of Afghans who have left their home country during three decades of conflict -- about two million. Many work in the construction sector or as domestic help.

But Iran says about half of them, or one million, have illegally entered and will be sent back.

Iran's Interior Ministry issued a statement in response to Afghanistan's concerns, stressing that refugees with valid documents could stay, the official IRNA news agency said.

“Each country has sensitivities about the presence of illegal citizens on its own territory which has different political, social, economic and security consequences,” the ministry said.

Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi was earlier this week quoted as saying 500,000 Afghans would leave Iran in the first half of this year, with the rest being repatriated during the second half. The Iranian year starts on March 21.-—Reuters