The Associated Press has reported that Pakistan is intensifying the deportation of Afghan migrants, giving some families insufficient time to gather their belongings.
According to Pakistan’s Interior Ministry, 216,441 Afghans have been deported from the country in the past two months. Since October 2023, more than one million undocumented migrants have been expelled from Pakistan.
Shirkhan, a 42-year-old man who was born in Pakistan, told the Associated Press: “All our assets and wealth were left behind. We worked for years to gather things for ourselves with dignity.” He is now one of thousands of returnees staying at the migrant camp in Torkham. Pakistan has announced that millions of Afghan migrants still remain in the country who will be deported in the future.
At the migrant camp in Torkham, each family receives a SIM card and 10,000 Afghanis in financial aid, and they can stay at the camp for up to three days. Maulvi Hashem Miwandwal, the camp manager, said about 150 families arrive daily from Pakistan, but they expect to see a new wave of mass migrant arrivals in the coming days.
Najibullah Ghiasi from the local charity organization “Asal” told the Associated Press that they expect a significant increase in migrant arrivals in the coming days, adding: “We cannot cover everyone because the numbers are too high.”
