Following a United Nations call to Pakistan to halt mass deportation of Afghan immigrants on Monday, Islamabad announced that all "illegal" migrants, regardless of nationality, would be deported.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan announced that the deportation of illegal migrants is in accordance with international laws.
The ministry has asked the countries of the world to deal with the issue of immigrants and cooperate with Pakistan.
Earlier, the government of Pakistan announced that 1.7 million migrants "without residence documents" have until November 1 to leave the country. Pakistan has warned that these migrants will face detention and deportation if they don’t leave by the November deadline.
The deportation decision of the government of Pakistan has faced international reactions. Earlier, in an open letter to the interim prime minister of Pakistan, Amnesty International urged him to reverse the decision to forcibly deport migrants, especially Afghans without documents.
In addition, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recently called on Pakistan to stop the "massive deportation of Afghan refugees”.
The UN agency said that Pakistan's decision will affect hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghan immigrants living in Pakistan.
UNHCR also stressed that if Afghan migrants are deported, they will be at serious risk of human rights violations, including arbitrary detentions, torture, and cruel treatment under the Taliban government.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan said in a statement on Monday that the decision to deport migrants is in accordance with Pakistan's internal laws and international principles.
The ministry said that all foreign nationals who are legally living in Pakistan will not be deported.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Interior of Pakistan said that in the first stage, immigrants without valid legal documents will be deported, and in the next stages, refugees registered in the United Nations and people with Pakistan Government Registration Certificate (POR) cards will also be deported.
Earlier, the Pakistani government had assured that it would not deport the migrants registered with the United Nations.
