As Pakistan launched a nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the wake of the expiry of the deadline, more than 7,300 refugees, including over 100 prisoners, were deported on Wednesday via the Torkham border crossing, according to the Dawn newspaper.
In a statement, the interior ministry said the process to “arrest the illegal immigrants residing in Pakistan has started” for their deportation.
According to the ministry, since the start of October at least 140,322 foreigners have “voluntarily returned to their respective countries”.
“Today, we said goodbye to 64 Afghan nationals as they began their journey back home. This action is a testament to Pakistan’s determination to repatriate any individuals residing in the country without proper documentation,” the statement added.
Sources said many Afghan nationals, who were serving prison sentences for petty crimes, were freed for their deportation to their home country.
“Those released from jails were involved in minor crimes and will not be required to complete their sentence on return to Afghanistan,” the source added.
Among over 7,300 Afghan nationals deported on Wednesday, there were 51 prisoners released from Peshawar’s central jail and 64 from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
“There is a huge number of ‘illegal immigrants’ waiting for their turn to be deported. The situation may go out of control,” a senior official informed Dawn.
He added although 22 teams of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) “are collecting data of the immigrants, the number of illegal immigrants at the border is swelling with every moment”.
Speaking about the prisoners deported to Afghanistan via Torkham, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Relief) Muhammad Imran Khan said, “These were all charged and imprisoned for illegally staying in Pakistan with some in prison for three years. Now, the government decided to deport them following court orders.”