ISLAMABAD: The capital police have asked all illegal immigrants to shift to a camp set up for them at I-12 on voluntarily basis within 48 hours.

The police on Monday said all those residing in the capital without legal documents should move to the camp.

A police officer told Dawn that there were 54 official camps set up for refugees in the country — 44 in KP, nine in Balochistan and one in Punjab. There are no official camps for them in Islamabad and Sindh.

He said the illegal immigrants had been asked to move to the camp at I-2 set up for them on humanitarian grounds.

Police register three more cases and arrest five foreigners for staying in city without documents

Another officer said e-tagging of foreigners residing in the capital legally had been completed and data in this regard also prepared by a unit of the Counter-Terrorism Department. The data will assist the police in identifying illegal immigrants, he added.

Meanwhile, the police registered three more cases against illegal immigrants and arrested five more foreigners for their stay in the city without documents. The Karachi Company police arrested three illegal foreigners from G-9/4.

The police said during checking the three persons were found acting suspiciously. As a result, they were detained and during preliminary investigation it emerged that they were staying the capital illegally.

Later, they were shifted to the police station and put behind bars for further legal action after registration of a case against them under Section 14 of Foreigners’ Act.

Likewise, the Koral police arrested an illegal immigrant at Sharifabad. The police said during a crackdown on anti-social elements, they intercepted a man and during questioning he introduced himself as a foreigner, but failed to produce any legal documents.

As a result, he was arrested and shifted to the police station where a case was registered against him.

The Secretariat police detained another foreigner over his failure to produce legal documents and registered a case against him. The arrest was made during a checking at Secretariat Chowk where the police on suspicion asked him to furnish identification documents.

However, he failed to produce any document and as a result was arrested, they added.

So far, the capital police have checked and verified the status of 1,172 foreigners, the police said. Out of the total, 511 failed to produce legal documents and were arrested for further legal action. In this regard, 69 cases have been registered against the foreigners at different police stations.

Meanwhile, a cooperative housing society in the capital has asked the owners to get vacated their flats and houses rented out to any illegal foreigner. The society said the decision was taken on the direction of the government.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2023