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3w ago

Pakistan Schedules Deportation of 1.3 Million Afghan PoR Cardholders From September

A 25-day voluntary return window expires August 31 as UNHCR flags hundreds of detained refugees ahead of September 1 deportations.

Trucks transporting Afghan nationals, who were expelled from Pakistan, are parked as refugees wait for registration at the Omari refugee camp in Mohmand Dara, Torkham border, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Hedyatshah Hedayat/File Photo
FILE - Afghan refugee children play next to trucks loaded with their family's belongings as they wait to return Afghanistan along a highway in Landi Kotal, Pakistan, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad, File)
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Overview

  • The Interior Ministry instructed provincial and regional authorities on August 4 to begin formal repatriation of over 1.3 million Afghans whose Proof of Registration cards expired June 30.
  • Refugees have a voluntary return grace period from August 4 to August 31, after which remaining PoR cardholders may face arrest and forced expulsion under the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan.
  • UNHCR spokesman Qaisar Khan Afridi reported hundreds of detentions and deportations of legally registered Afghans between August 1 and 4, warning that such actions violate the principle of non-refoulement.
  • The plan also continues repatriation of Afghan Citizen Card holders, with NADRA and the FIA tasked to process deregistration and border-crossing logistics for returnees.
  • Afghanistan’s government has condemned the operation as forced deportation and called on Pakistan to uphold protections for long-term refugees.