QUETTA: Three new crossing points will be opened on the border with Afghanistan as the government seeks to expedite the repatriation of illegal Afghan immigrants, according to officials.

Pakistan has informed the Afghan government that the new crossings will be opened from Monday (today).

In a related development, a report prepared by the Sindh Home Depart­ment described illegal immigrants as a security threat and said that provincial demography will be completely altered by 2040 if they were not repatriated.

As regards new crossings, officials told Dawn that the government has proposed to open one border crossing point in the Badini-Shinband area of Qila Saifullah and two in Brabcha and Noor Wahab areas of Chagai district.

The FIA and other departments involved in the repatriation were facing difficulties in processing and registering the migrants coming from different areas of Balochistan and other provinces.

The existing border crossing in Chaman has been overwhelmed due to the influx of illegal immigrants, officials said.

According to details, immigrants from Zhob, Loralai, Sherani and other nearby areas would be repatriated through the Badini-Shinband crossing.

The Qila Saifullah assistant commissioner has appointed a Levies officer in Badini as the focal person to oversee the repatriation process.

Those coming from Noshki, Chagai, Kharan, Washuk and the coastal district of Gwadar will be sent to Afghanistan from the other crossing points.

“The Afghan government has been officially informed about the opening of three new crossing points through which refugees will be repatriating from Monday,” an official said.

The official data showed that the number of illegal Afghan nationals who voluntarily returned from the Chaman border crossing has reached 88,000.

Around 3,173 illegal Afghan refugees went to their country on Sunday from the Chaman holding centre.

‘Threat to demography’

The Sindh government has called illegal immigrants a security threat and said if they are not repatriated, the provincial demography will be completely altered by 2040.

A report prepared by the home department said Sindh was the “most affected” due to the influx of illegal foreigners over the last four decades.

This unchecked arrival of immigrants has put a strain on the province’s already meagre resources, said the report, prepared in collaboration with key stakeholders. If the influx of foreigners continues from Afgha­nistan and other neighbouring states, it may “worsen the already precarious situation”.

The home department said a large number of Afghan nationals, both documented and undocumented, were residing in Sindh. Around 73,000 have Proof of Registration cards, and 68,000 have the Afghan Citizen Card. There are hundreds of thousands of unregistered illegal Afghans, Burmese and Bengalis as well.

While pointing out the number of undocumented foreigners, the report said, as per “rough estimation,” around 0.15 million Afghans in Sindh are living illegally. The number of illegal Burmese and Bengalis was 1,980 and 26,820, respectively.

The report claimed that most illegal foreigners were “involved in street crime, robberies, murders, narcotics and illicit and terrorist activities”.

Quoting the discussions during the 25th Provincial Apex Committee meeting, which took place in 2021, the home department report said “… if anything [was] not done at this stage (regarding influx of illegal settlers), then the demography of Karachi will be completely changed by 2040.”

Imtiaz Ali in Karachi also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2023