Pakistan To Establish Deportation Centres For Illegal Immigrants

Pakistan is creating special deportation centres to deport immigrants, including 1.7 million Afghans who reside illegally in the country.

Pakistani officials said that if the illegal immigrants do not leave the country by the deadline, they will be sent to deportation centres.

Jan Achakzai, a spokesperson of Balochistan province, told the Associated Press on Thursday that three deportation centres have been established in the city.

Azam Khan, the caretaker chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that three deportation centres will be established in this state as well. He said that immigrants living in the country illegally must leave Pakistan before next Wednesday's deadline in order to avoid being arrested.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said that the one-month deadline for deporting migrants will not be extended. He explained that immigrants have the right to take only $180 out of the country.

He warned Pakistani citizens that there would be consequences if they were discovered sheltering migrants who are in the country illegally after November 1.

Pakistan hosts millions of Afghans, and since the announcement of the deportation of migrants, this country has deported about 60,000 Afghans and returned them to Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials said the 1.4 million Afghans registered as refugees would not be deported.

Following the decision to speed up the process of deporting Afghan immigrants from Pakistan, human rights defenders and the United Nations asked Pakistan to reconsider this decision.

Criticising Pakistan's decision, the United Nations said that this crackdown could lead to human rights violations, including the separation of families.