Govt steps up drive to expel undocumented Afghans in KP
PESHAWAR: Members of Afghan settlements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hurriedly packed up belongings this week while others hid at home as police launched a “large-scale crackdown” on undocumented residents.
Authorities carried out housing demolitions, roadside identity checks and told Afghans to leave as part of a broader government pushback, community members and officials said.
Pakistan, facing growing attacks, announced in 2023 it would begin deporting undocumented foreigners.
Residents of Mattani, a short drive from the provincial capital Peshawar, told AFP that authorities had demolished many of the Afghan settlement's 200 houses in July.
Najeeb Rehman, 50, said he first tried to retrieve his father´s medication and children´s school certificates from his home.
“But the officers didn´t listen to us and just said to demolish the house,” he said, in the remains of the settlement where the walls of many homes were now in rubble.
Young men nearby loaded household belongings including beds and solar panels into trucks to cross the border.
In June, Pakistan´s interior ministry ordered law enforcement nationwide to arrest Afghan citizens without visas from July 10.
The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the demolitions.
“A large-scale crackdown against undocumented Afghan nationals began on July 10 and is still ongoing,” a senior police officer in Peshawar told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Even before the federal government issued clear directives, police had completed the mapping of Afghan nationals across all parts of the province,” the official said.
Police and officials said they warned Afghan residents before July 10 they must leave, including through mosque loudspeakers and meetings with community elders.
But some said they had few options.
“The police don´t consider anyone´s circumstances. They don´t care whether I have any money in my pocket or not. They don´t take my health into account either,” said Ahmad Mula, 70, whose home in Mattani was demolished.
“The police have made announcements at least twenty times, but we have our own hardships and circumstances,” he said.
UN data showed almost 6,200 Afghans returned from Pakistan in the seven days to July 11, up by around a third from the previous week.
An AFP reporter in Peshawar this week witnessed police setting up temporary checkpoints across the city, where officers checked identity documents of passers-by.
“We have been issued strict instructions regarding the arrest of undocumented Afghan nationals,” an officer at one of the checkpoints told AFP.
In Peshawar´s Board Bazaar market, known as “Mini Kabul” and home to thousands of shops run by Afghans, owners said they had seen a downturn in customers and feared arrests.
“People have hidden in their homes and business has come to a standstill,” said Zabi Ullah, a businessman at the market.
PESHAWAR: Members of Afghan settlements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hurriedly packed up belongings this week while others hid at home as police launched a “large-scale crackdown” on...
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