Pakistan's KPK province launches operation to evict illegal Afghans from Peshawar

Afghans preparing to leave a holding center in Landi Kotal, Pakistan. File Photo/AFP

Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government will launch an operation to evict illegal Afghans from the capital city Peshawar, a senior official said on Saturday.

The move by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) government came amid the ongoing deportation of illegal Afghan nationals residing in Pakistan. The crackdown has so far forced about 340,000 Afghans in recent weeks to leave Pakistan after spending years in the neighbouring country, news wire PTI reported.

"The KPK Provincial Government has decided to launch a grand operation for the eviction of illegal Afghans from this northwestern city of Peshawar," said the official.

Pakistan's caretaker government has previously said security concerns were behind the deportation order. Islamabad has claimed that Afghan nationals had carried out 14 of the 24 major terrorist attacks that have taken place in the country this year. However, the Taliban-led government in Kabul has rejected Pakistan's claim.

On Friday, a joint meeting of Deputy Commissioner Peshawar Fahd Wazir and Senior Superintendent of Police of Operations department in Peshawar Kashif Abbasi chaired a special meeting to discuss the issue and made a foolproof plan for evictions of the illegal Afghans.

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The Peshawar district Administration and police set up special teams under the supervision of divisional SPs to evict the illegal Afghans from the Provincial capital Peshawar.

The special teams have been provided with complete lists and data on the illegal Afghans residing in Peshawar.

The teams would arrest Afghan nationals without documents and would shift them to Juma Khan Holding Camp Nasir Bagh from where they would be deported to their country via the Torkham border.

According to officials, the Afghans holding Proof of Registration and Afghan Citizen Cards have been exempted from deportation and special teams have been formed for verification of their documents.

Many Afghans who have been in Pakistan for decades say they should be given more time, as they have no home in Afghanistan. Afghans say they do not know how they will start a new life from scratch.

An estimated 1.7 million Afghans were living in Pakistan illegally when the crackdown was launched last month by the government.

Afghanistan has set up a commission in Kabul to deal with repatriations from Pakistan. Bilal Karimi, the spokesman for the refugee commission of Afghanistan's Taliban-led administration, said so far 340,608 Afghans have returned. (With inputs from PTI)