Over 220,000 Migrants Returned To Afghanistan, Confirms Pakistan

Over the last 23 days, thousands of protestors have been staging a sit-in at Chaman city near the border with Afghanistan, protesting against the prohibition on travel without visas and passports across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border crossings.

Yet, the protestors call the "security threats" as an excuse to halt their sit-in, emphasising on their determination to not yield to pressure from the Pakistani government.

In the official letter that appears to have been issued on Friday, November 10, Chaman Police wrote to the organisers of the sit-in, "Several countries are trying to attack the sit-ins."

In the letter, the local police department announced its inability to provide security for the protesters in the open area and asked the protesters to either end their sit-in or move their protest to a closed space.

The local police department of Chaman has warned that otherwise the responsibility of whatever happens will be on the organisers of the sit-in.

Amir Mohammad, one of the protestors, responded to the warning of the local police and said that only "Pakistani soldiers" will attack us. He said that "Pakistani security forces will be responsible" if the protesters are harmed.

The Prime Minister of the interim government of Pakistan Anwar ul Haq Kakar has taken unprecedented decisions regarding the border issues and immigrants in the country during the recent months.

During the first month of their reign, the interim cabinet led by Kakar set a deadline for more than 1.7 million Afghan refugees to leave Pakistan by November 1.

With the deadline set, Pakistan's Ministry of Interior has launched a massive operation to detain and forcibly deport refugees.

The interim government of Pakistan has also decided to implement a "single document policy" for movement across the borders between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

According to the new decision of the government of Pakistan, passengers will not be able to cross the border crossings with any other documents except a passport and visa.

The recent decision by the Pakistani government marks the end of a period where travellers could utilise outdated documents like agreements of the British India period and national identity cards to cross the border.

On Monday, the Pakistani newspaper, Dawn, wrote in a report that the new crossings will be opened from today.

This newspaper, citing a report prepared by the Sindh Home Department, wrote that if "illegal Afghans" are not repatriated, Pakistan will face a security problem.

In the report, it has also been stated that the department responsible for deporting immigrants has encountered problems in registering and processing the identity of immigrants. According to reports published by Pakistani newspapers, approximately 88,000 refugees have voluntarily returned to Afghanistan only through the Chaman border crossing.

The government of Sindh has called the presence of Afghan immigrants a demographic threat to the state and has warned that if the immigrants are not returned to their countries, provincial demography will alter by 2040.

As per the official report from the Sindh Home Department, hundreds of thousands of refugees, both with and without official residency documentation, reside within the state.

The report indicates that roughly 150,000 Afghans reside in Sindh without residency documentation. Additionally, there are an estimated 26,820 individuals from Bengal and 1,980 individuals from Burma living in the region.

This party announced that the popularity of the Taliban regime and the "presidential republic" has decreased to less than 10%.

The survey, shared with Afghanistan International on Sunday, indicated a rise in separatist inclinations within Afghanistan. The party claimed, “46 percent of respondents expressed support for partition of the country”, which apparently is more than the reported 44 percent in favour of a federal system in Afghanistan.

The National Congress Party, led by Latif Pedram, is one of the few political parties in Afghanistan that seeks the establishment of a federal political system in the country. Pedram has repeatedly said that the centralised structure is the main problem of the Afghan people which could be addressed by establishing a "federal republic system".

He additionally emphasised that in the absence of establishing a federal republic, he does not dismiss the prospect of “partition” of Afghanistan.

The survey data has not been made available on the party's website for evaluation and confirmation by independent researchers.

On October 23, the National Congress Party announced that it had launched an online survey titled "Right to Self-Determination", regarding the preferred future political system for Afghanistan. In the poll, the participants were asked to choose "Islamic Emirate", "Presidential Republic", "Federal Republic" or “Partition” as their choice for the future of Afghanistan.

As per the party's report, over 103,000 individuals from over 71 countries took part in the survey. Approximately 81% of respondents are Farsi speakers, while around 7% of participants are Pashto speakers.

The gender breakdown of respondents included 11% women and 89% men, and most respondents were between the ages of 25 and 35.

The Islamic Emirate system achieved the least support among the four options presented, according to the collected statistics.

Only 4.2 percent of the respondents voted for an Islamic Emirate. Respectively, 5.5 percent wanted a presidential republic system.

The National Congress Party on Sunday published the results of the survey and told Afghanistan International that these results show the people's desire for "fundamental and serious change” in Afghanistan.

The trip occurred a day after Mullah Baradar's return from Iran.

An Iranian official has stated that during the meeting between Iran's Head of Department of Environment and Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's Deputy Prime Minister, a verbal agreement was achieved concerning the water rights from the Helmand River.

According to him, Mullah Baradar promised that the water rights would be given as soon as the conditions are favourable.

Baradar visited Tehran on November 4 and returned to Kabul on November 9.

During a week, he met with several Iranian officials, including the head of Iran's Department of Environment.

The charges leading to the arrest of these Pakistani citizens by the Taliban in Afghanistan remain undisclosed, as does the exact number of individuals detained.

The Taliban has not commented on this matter yet.

As per the report from the Express Tribune, the demonstrators urged Pakistani authorities to initiate communication with Kabul, emphasising on the urgent repatriation of these detained Pakistani citizens back to their country.

They also asked the Pakistani authorities to take back the confiscated passports of these individuals from the Taliban.

One of the protesters told Express Tribune that these Pakistani citizens entered Afghanistan with visas, however, they were arrested by the Taliban.