The Pakistani government has instructed its police force to commence the second phase of expelling Afghan migrants. Officials also indicate that this phase is likely to begin in the summer season.
According to Dawn newspaper, approximately one million Afghan migrants, holders of ACC cards or temporary residence permits, will be expelled from the country.
Dawn, quoting a Pakistani official, mentioned that instructions for expediting the mapping of the residences of temporary residence cardholders have been dispatched to local offices.
Abed Majid, the senior secretary for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, stated, "We have already started the mapping process. This will accelerate after Ramadan, with its completion hopefully by April 30 of this year."
Another official, quoted by Dawn, expressed uncertainty about when the second phase of Afghan migrants’ expulsion will start, but suggested that it could commence at the beginning of summer, following federal government approval.
UN Refugee Agency statistics show that 2.18 million Afghan migrants reside in Pakistan.
This includes 1.3 million refugees holding a "POR" card or permanent residence from the UN Refugee Agency and another 880,000 refugees who received temporary residence permits after registering in 2017.
Pakistani authorities reported that between six hundred to eight hundred thousand people arrived in Pakistan following the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in August 2021, and are now facing an uncertain future.
In November of the previous year, Pakistan announced the expulsion of 1.7 million undocumented migrants. Pakistani media estimated that about half a million migrants have since returned to Afghanistan.
