LAHORE: Pakistan’s Punjab province was set to repatriate 20 Afghan citizens to their homeland on Thursday as it continued its drive against undocumented Afghan nationals, a Punjab Home Department spokesperson said.
The nationwide repatriation campaign, launched in late 2023, has strained relations between neighbors Pakistan and Afghanistan. The policy has drawn criticism from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which has said it has received reports of arrests and expulsions of legally registered Afghans and warned that sending them back in this way breaches Pakistan’s international obligations.
According to a Punjab Home Department statement, official statistics show that more than 2 million Afghan citizens have been sent back from across Pakistan.
“In Punjab alone, over 150,000 undocumented Afghans have been repatriated,” the statement said. It added that all Afghan citizens without a valid visa are required to leave, while those with valid visas may continue to work or run businesses.
Punjab is currently operating 37 holding centers accommodating 69 Afghan nationals, 20 of whom were scheduled for repatriation on Thursday, the spokesperson said.
