Thousands of people swarmed Pakistan’s primary northwestern border crossing on Thursday, November 2, in a rush to enter Afghanistan following the government’s expulsion order for undocumented foreigners that expired the previous day.
At the Torkham border crossing, many individuals loaded their belongings onto trucks, while in Karachi, police detained foreigners for transport on buses.
Karachi-based human rights lawyer Zia Ahmed Awan expressed concerns that the refugees had not been given sufficient time to prepare for repatriation.
Out of the more than 4 million Afghan residents in Pakistan, the government estimates that 1.7 million are undocumented.
A statement from Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior revealed that Afghanistan’s Ambassador in Islamabad, Sardar Ahmad Shakib, held discussions with Pakistan’s Minister of Interior Affairs, Sarfraz Baghti, to address the issues related to forced deportation, the transfer of property and money, the plight of thousands of refugees stranded in Torkham and Chaman, and the harassment of refugees, including women and children.
