- The deportees include 191 men, 37 women and 79 children.
- Memon says that only those who reside illegally are being deported.
- Vows to continue the campaign against undocumented migrants.
Karachi: At least 307 illegal Afghan immigrants have been deported from Sindh to part of government policy to deport all undocumented foreign citizens, Sindh’s information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said Sunday.
In a statement, Memon said that illegal immigrants were repatriated from the Amin traffic field of the house after an exhaustive verification, legal procedures and background verifications. He said the deportees included 191 men, 37 women and 79 children.
The Federal Government announced in early March that 800,000 Cards of Afghan Citizens (ACC) would be canceled, the second phase of a deportation program that has already forced 800,000 undocumented Afghans through the border.
The country has been organizing millions of Afghans for about five decades. Hundreds of thousands of them returned to their country in recent years, but even more than 2.1 million live in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and other provinces.
Pakistan had established March 31 as the deadline for all illegal Afghans, as well as for those who possessed ACC cards to return to their country amid incidents of terrorism in the country.
Last year was the deadliest year in almost a decade in Pakistan, with more than 1,600 people they lost their lives in attacks, almost half of the security forces staff, according to the Center for Research and Security Studies based in Islamabad.
Pakistan accuses the Taliban government of not stopping militants who take refuge in Afghan soil, a position that the Taliban government denies.
The Taliban government has repeatedly requested the “worthy” return of the Afghan to their country, with Prime Minister Hassan Akhund urging countries that house Afghan not to expel them.
On February 13, the Interior Minister asked the government of Sindh to begin the repatriation of all the owners of ACC to their country of origin under the illegal foreigner repatriation plan (IFFIF). As part of the plan, the voluntary return until March 31 ended and the “forced repatriation” since April 1 has begun.
Memon, in today’s statement, said an initial list of 313 individuals had been compiled, and after a detection process, 307 were eligible for deportation. He pointed out that only those who reside illegally in the country are being deported.
The minister reaffirmed the government’s commitment to continue the campaign against undocumented migrants to comply with international laws and protocols.
“Pakistan is repatriating illegal immigrants according to global principles,” he said, adding that the operation of the Sindh government will remain ongoing.
Number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan
According to the data obtained by Geographical newsThere are currently 2.1 million registered Afghan refugees and not registered in Pakistan.
The sources in the Ministry of States and the Border Regions (Safron) indicate that 1.4 million Afghan refugees are legally registered, while 800,000 Afghan nationals have an ‘Afghan citizen card’ (ACC), but their stay is now considered illegal.
However, the Government states that the total number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is three million, all of which will be repatriated this year under the illegal foreigners deportation plan.
Four categories
Afghan citizens residing in Pakistan for decades are divided into four categories.
The first category consists of Afghan citizens who fled to Pakistan due to instability in Afghanistan and were granted the official refugee status. In 2007, Pakistan issued registration proof cards to these refugees, who now add up to 1.3 million. The government issued these cards only once, renewing them periodically, with the current validity that expired on June 30, 2025.
The second category includes Afghan nationals that issued Afghan citizens cards (ACC). Approximately 800,000 people received these cards in 2016, and are now being repatriated as part of government deportation efforts.
The third category includes national Afghan who fled to Pakistan after the acquisition of the Taliban in 2021. These individuals were granted asylum under international protocols. While the Pakistani government initially stated that 600,000 Afghan arrived after the United States withdrawal, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) establishes that only 200,000 were officially registered.
The fourth category includes undocumented Afghan nationals who lack status for and ACC and are not registered as asylum applicants of the influx of 2021. This category also includes those who have married in Pakistan and obtained false national identity cards. In the last two years, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has canceled such fraudulent identifications through its national impulse for verification and renewal, now classifying these people as illegal residents.
