Peshawar:

Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has decided to comply with the federal government’s decision to repatriation of Afghan refugees.

However, it has been made clear that refugees would not be forced to be taken out from KP, but would have the opportunity to voluntarily return to their homeland.

For this they also get the necessary facilities.

The central government has given a deadline on March 31, 2025 to all Afghan refugees who are illegal or have proof of registration cards to leave Pakistan and return to Afghanistan.

In this regard, KP chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur had, opposite the federal government’s policy during a press conference in Peshawar recently.

However, the Express Pakinomist of very reliable sources in the provincial government learned that the Gandapur government would not interfere in any way with the policy implemented by the center on the return of Afghan refugees and the said policy would be followed.

Sources said the provincial government would not forcibly exhibit Afghan refugees residing in different areas of the province, including Peshawar, and sending them to Afghanistan, but would give them an opportunity to leave Pakistan on their own and return to their homeland with dignity.

In this regard, sources said that an office for these refugees would be set up at the Pak-Afghan border in Torkham so that they could travel to Afghanistan from there according to their travel documents and would also get the necessary travel facilities at this location.

The sources said the governments of Punjab and Islamabad were responsible for providing transport and other facilities to the Afghan refugees wandering from these areas.

It has been reported that an important meeting will also be held in Peshawar next week, where issues related to the return of Afghan refugees to the war -hired country would be discussed.

Background

Pakistan on March 17 had rejected a request from the Afghan Taliban to give an extension in the stay of Afghan refugees.

Kabul has been conveyed in clear conditions that Islamabad would stick to his plan to deport all illegal and Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders from April 1st.

In a major political decision, Pakistan had announced on March 7 that ACC holders had until March 31 to leave the country or face deportation. There are about 800,000 ACC holders in Pakistan, but after March 31, they would be treated as illegal foreigners.

The reports had completed rounds that Pakistan planned to remove all Afghans from the country, but this was the first time that the Ministry of the Interior had officially confirmed the development.

“Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Program (IFRP) has been implemented since November 1, 2023. In a continuation of the government’s decision to repatriate all illegal foreigners, the national leadership has now decided to Repatriate ACC holders,” read the official distribution of the ministry issued on March 7.