• 245 individuals from Azad Kashmir slated to be deported via Torkham
• Number of returnees from Chaman jumps four times in October

PESHAWAR / QUETTA: In a first, illegal Afghan immigrants from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) are set to be repatriated to Afghanistan through the Khyber Pakhtun­khwa’s Torkham border crossing on Wednesday.

Officials informed that some 245 illegal immigrants from AJK were scheduled to be deported via Torkham at different intervals, adding that the first convoy carrying 24 individuals, including men, women and kids from Muzaffarabad and Kotli areas of AJK, had reached KP.

“This was the first-ever repatriation from AJK via Tork­ham,” a senior official informed, adding that movement of the illegal immigrants from Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan via Torkham was stopped for one day (on Wednesday).

The official said 15 undocumented Afghan inmates imprisoned for petty crimes, including one from Abbottabad, four from Haripur and 10 from Peshawar, were also deported to Afghanistan. With 17 on Wednesday, a total of 288 immigrants were shifted from Punjab and deported via Torkham.

Officials said that 4,119 illegal immigrants — including 1,236 men, 1,184 women, 1,650 children and 49 prisoners — were repatriated to Afghanistan on Wednesday. This brought the total of repatriated people from mid-September to 193,378, including 54,599 men, 42,164 women and 9,615 children.

The rise in repatriations comes after the government ordered 1.7 million Afghans, which it said were living illegally in the country, to leave or face deportation.

Repatriation from Chaman

Meanwhile, Afghan refugees living without legal documents in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan were also leaving for their country through a voluntary repatriation programme of the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, via the border town of Chaman.

UNHCR officials in Quetta said that according to the International Organisation for Migration, 1,926 Afghan families consisting of 26,275 individuals were returned to Afghanistan from the Chaman border in October.

The number was almost four times higher than a month ago, when 520 Afghan families comprising 6,666 individuals returned.

The officials attributed the higher number of returnees mainly to fear of arrest, harassment and deportation.

The UNHCR officials said that the agency’s voluntary repatriation centre in the Baleli town of Quetta facilitated the return of 475 refugee households consisting of 2,078 individuals.

“This represents a 132 per cent increase compared to the previous month’s 186 families comprising 896 individuals,” they said.

Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai earlier put the number of returning Afghan refugees at over 66,000, including 26,000 refugees who reached Chaman from Karachi and other parts of Sindh.

On Wednesday, undocumented Afghan refugees continued to return to their home country via the Chaman border. Around 70 were sent to Chaman by authorities in tight security, while more families arrived from Karachi and other parts of Sindh.

Meanwhile, officials say that despite being legally permitted to stay, several registered Afghan refugees are also choosing to return to their homeland, as the government has yet to decide on their repatriation.

Iran deportations spike

Meanwhile, the AFP news agency reported that the number of Afghans returning to their home country from Iran has doubled in the past month, a top border official said on Wednesday, with returnees reporting growing pressure to leave.

At least 14,480 Afghans have crossed at Islam Qala in four days since the weekend, said Abdullah Qayomi, head of refugee affairs at the busy crossing near the western Afghan city of Herat.

“When Pakistan made the decision to deport our countrymen from their own land, the figures started to rise here,” Mr Qayomi said.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2023