JAKARTA - Pakistan has begun deporting Afghan refugees who have documents before the deadline for their departure. This move has the potential to cause more than 1 million Afghans to be expelled from the country.
The United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it had received reports of the arrest and expulsion of officially registered Afghans across the country before the deadline for departure from Pakistan on September 1.
UNHCR stated that the repatriation of Afghans in this way was a violation of Pakistan's international obligations.
"UNHCR urges the government to stop forced repatriation and adopt a humane approach to ensure the voluntary, gradual and dignified repatriation of Afghans," the UNHCR said in a statement.
The voluntary repatriation of the documented refugees will begin soon, a Pakistan Interior Ministry order was seen by Reuters.
The official deportation process will begin after the deadline.
However, Qaisar Khan Afridi, a UNHCR spokesman, told Reuters on Wednesday hundreds of registered Afghan refugees had been detained and deported to Afghanistan from August 1 to 4.
More than 1.3 million Afghans hold documents known as Registration Proof Cards, while another 750,000 have other forms of registration known as Afghan Citizen Cards.
Many Afghans have settled in Pakistan since the 1980s, to avoid the cycle of war in Afghanistan.
"Such mass and hasty repatriation could put the lives and freedoms of Afghan refugees at the same time pose a risk of instability not only in Afghanistan but also throughout the region," the UNHRC said.
Pakistani authorities say Islamabad wants all Afghan citizens to leave unless they have valid visas.
Pakistan's repatriation efforts are part of a campaign called the Illegal Foreigner Repatriation Plan launched at the end of 2023.
Pakistan has previously blamed militant attacks and crimes on Afghan citizens, who are the country's largest migrant group. Afghanistan has denied the allegations, and called the repatriation a forced deportation.
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