Pakistan opened more border centres on Friday to expedite the return of tens of thousands of undocumented Afghan nationals, an official said, ignoring calls by refugee groups to reconsider its mass expulsion plans.

Facilities at the northwestern border crossing of Torkham, where most immigrants are re-entering Afghanistan, have been increased three times to cater to the rising number of returnees, said Abdul Nasir Khan, deputy commissioner for the Khyber district.

“Everything is normal now as the returnees no longer needed to wait in queues for hours,” he said of the crossing, where thousands had thronged after a Wednesday deadline expired for Afghans in the country illegally to leave.

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Those arriving in Afghanistan complained of the hardships they had to face to move out of Pakistan and uncertainty over their future.

“We spent three days on the border in Pakistan. We had a very bad situation,” said Mohammad Ismael Rafi, 55, who said he lived for 22 years in Chaman where he had a retail business.

“Thank God that we have arrived back in our country,” he said. It took him six days to leave his home in Pakistan with his 16 family members and belongings to reach a makeshift tent village on the other side of the border.

Rafi accused Pakistani officials of taking bribes to process his repatriation. Authorities deny that. He rented a house in Kandahar to live temporarily before moving to his ancestral home in Helmand province.

Sudden influx

Meanwhile, the caretaker government has brushed off calls from the United Nations, rights groups and Western embassies to reconsider its plan to expel more than a million of the 4m Afghans in the country.

The Taliban-run administration in Afghanistan, scrambling to cope with the sudden influx, has set up temporary transit camps where food and medical assistance would be provided.

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In a joint statement, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Danish Refugee Council and International Rescue Committee have reported chaotic and desperate scenes among those arriving.

Khan said 19,744 Afghans had crossed the border on Thursday, of 147,949 since the government announced the deadline. More than 35,000 undocumented Afghans have left through the Chaman border.

Authorities have said they were open to delaying repatriation for people with health or other issues that would bar them from travelling.

Islamabad has eased a biometric requirement for Afghan women and children to save them the hours-long process at the borders.

UN agencies call for protection of refugee families seeking safety in Pakistan

Meanwhile, three UN agencies raised alarm over the potential consequences of the repatriation plan and expressed their concerns over the safety and well-being of families, including children, impacted by it.

UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and Unicef issued a joint press release today appealing to the world community to increase support for hosting vulnerable children, families and refugees in Pakistan.

The statement said the UNHCR and IOM reiterated their offer to support Pakistan in developing a mechanism to “register, manage, and screen” people who needed continued protection in the country.

It quoted the UN agencies as saying that a majority of the people being repatriated were Afghans who were “returning out of fear of arrest or deportation in Pakistan”.

“Afghanistan is deep in the grips of a humanitarian crisis, with ongoing human rights challenges and an impending harsh winter,” the statement said. “Almost 30m people require humanitarian assistance and 3.3m are internally displaced.”

It highlighted that since September 15, an estimated 160,000 Afghans had left Pakistan. “Among those, 86 per cent of families reported fear of arrest as the most common reason for departing in a rush, and without assistance,” the statement added.

It lauded Pakistan for having a proud tradition of hosting refugees and saving millions of lives, urging the country to continue the “generosity” that was still needed.

It said that although the government’s plan specified the repatriation of undocumented foreigners during phase one, “there were reports of registered refugees and Afghans possessing legal documents, including Afghan Citizenship Card holders and Afghans scheduled for resettlement, being pressurised despite assurances that they will be protected.”

The press release said the registered refugees included children and women, adding that “IOM received reports of persons being targeted in their homes.”

The statement emphasised that children faced a serious protection risk while moving through detention centres and crossing borders during their return to Afghanistan.

“In these situations, children face risks of physical threats to their safety, family separation, distress, fear, abuse, and exploitation,” it said. “Children’s access to services including education and healthcare and basic necessities such as food and shelter could be severely disrupted.”

The press release said more registered Afghan refugees were also approaching UNHCR’s voluntary repatriation centres in Peshawar and Quetta for assistance. “UNHCR and IOM are stepping up their capacity to help,” it added. “Voluntary returns are generally slower during the winter.”

UNHCR’s representative Philippa Candler stressed that “any return needs to be voluntary and done in a safe and orderly manner, with full respect for rights and protection of those in need.”

The press release said the UNHCR and IOM had intensively engaged with the authorities, including advocating that those whose safety may be at risk be exempted from the government’s deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave by November 1.

‘‘We are appealing to the authorities not to force vulnerable people, including children and families, back to a situation where their lives may be at risk’’ said IOM Chief of Mission Mio Sato.

Meanwhile, Unicef Representative in Pakistan Abdullah Fadil said: “At this time of increased vulnerability, Unicef called on the government to fulfil its obligations to uphold and protect the rights of all children within its borders. A child is a child. Children everywhere must be protected at all times to live with dignity, so they can grow, learn and reach their full potential.”