ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: The government is trying to repatriate around 1,600 Afghan nationals most of whom are detained in two jails of Rawalpindi and Jehlum.

These Afghan nationals were arrested for not possessing legal documents to stay in the country.

The issue surfaced recently when the Punjab jail authorities informed the provincial home secretary that the presence of this big number of Afghan prisoners in two jails of Rawalpindi and Jehlum was causing serious ‘logistical’ problems.

As a result, the provincial authorities approached the federal interior ministry recently for resolving the issue and now efforts were being made to repatriate these Afghan nationals languishing in these jails for an unspecified period of time.

These Afghan nationals have been put in jail for not possessing any valid documents to stay in Pakistan and were rounded up for entering or staying in the country illegally. It is learnt that the federal interior ministry got in touch with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as well as the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad to facilitate repatriation of these Afghan nationals.

However, it is also learnt that the UNHCR has expressed its inability to get involved in this matter because the Afghan nationals in jails do not enjoy the ‘refugee status’ and are illegal immigrants for whom the UNHCR shoulders no responsibility.

But, the sources said, ‘communication’ is on with the Afghan Embassy and as soon as things are finalized repatriation of these Afghan nationals will start.

The sources said the police had actually arrested some 1,700 foreign nationals for illegally entering or staying in the country out of which around 1,600 were Afghan nationals.

They said that most of these Afghan nationals were rounded up in various campaigns launched by the police and administrations of different districts to check the illegal immigrants over the last more then one year.

However, they said, some of them were also caught for their involvement in petty crimes like thefts or smuggling and when found without any legal documents to stay or enter the country, they were put in jails.

The sources said if anybody was found involved in some serious crime, he would be tried in Pakistani courts.

The sources told Dawn that over 800 Afghan prisoners were in Adiala jail while the rest were in Jehlum jail. They said the prison authorities have constantly been complaining of growing constraints on their resources because of the presence of these Afghan nationals whose cases are lying pending for quite some time in various courts and no body seems interested to pursue those.