Peshawar: The voluntary repatriation of Afghan citizens holding Afghan Citizen Cards from Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province continues via the Torkham border crossing.
According to statistics released by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home and Tribal Affairs Department, on Sunday alone, 1,698 Afghan Citizen Card holders and 3,268 undocumented migrants were repatriated to Afghanistan through the Torkham border.
The provincial government reported that since April 1, a total of 3,053 Afghan Citizen Card holders have been sent back to Afghanistan via Torkham. Additionally, official figures reveal that 160 individuals from Islamabad, 1,980 from Punjab, and one from Gilgit-Baltistan, all holding Afghan Citizen Cards, have also been repatriated through the same route.
Since September 2023, a cumulative total of 484,975 undocumented Afghan nationals have been repatriated from Pakistan through the Torkham border, according to government data.
It is important to note that the voluntary return of Afghan Citizen Card holders and undocumented migrants residing across Pakistan was allowed until March 31, 2025. However, after this date, all such individuals will be registered in holding camps before being deported to Afghanistan via the Torkham border. The government states that all necessary arrangements for this process have been finalized.
On Saturday, a group of United Nations experts urged Pakistan to halt its plan to forcibly deport Afghan refugees from the federal capital, Islamabad, and the twin city of Rawalpindi. The UN experts called on Pakistan not to compel Afghan refugees to return to Afghanistan against their will.
