ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior has established a control room to facilitate the repatriation of Afghan nationals and address their complaints during the ongoing repatriation process to Afghanistan.
The development follows an announcement made by Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar during his recent visit to Kabul.
According to the Interior Ministry officials, the control room established at the National Crisis and Information Management Cell will remain operational round-the-clock to assist Afghan citizens.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday spoke with acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi over the phone.
Dar thanked him for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to him and the accompanying delegation during his visit to Kabul. He also invited the Afghan minister to visit Pakistan, which he accepted.
Pakistan says nearly 85,000 Afghans have returned so far in April, with a large number of them undocumented.
Dar on Saturday said that Afghanistan has assured Pakistan it would not allow its soil to be used by any elements involved in terrorism, hostile or illicit activities against Pakistan.
His visit came at a crucial time as the two neighbours attempt to reset strained ties, which have been marred by border tensions, cross-border attacks, and the issue of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
The visit marks a renewed effort to address Islamabad’s concerns over cross-border militancy and follows the latest round of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Coordination Committee meeting held in Kabul.
It is worth mentioning that more than 20,000 Afghan nationals left Pakistan for Afghanistan through the Torkham border crossing between April 1 and 7, following the expiry of the March 31 deadline for holders of Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) to leave the country, officials have said.
According to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home and Tribal Affairs Department, a total of 20,073 Afghans returned to their home country in the first week of April alone.
Of these, 12,982 departed from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 5,435 from Punjab, 1,573 from Islamabad, 44 from Sindh, 38 from Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and one from Gilgit Baltistan.
The figure forms part of a broader nationwide repatriation drive, during which over 485,000 Afghan nationals have returned to Afghanistan since September 2023.
The ongoing repatriation is being carried out under the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Programme (IFRP), launched on 1 November 2023.
Initially aimed at deporting undocumented foreign nationals, the programme has now entered a second phase. In March this year, Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior directed all ACC holders to leave the country by 31 March 2025.
Pakistan has hosted more than 2.8 million Afghan nationals for decades, according to United Nations data.
Of these, around 1.3 million are registered refugees holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, while another estimated 800,000 hold ACCs.
Islamabad initiated the crackdown on foreign nationals, particularly Afghans, in response to a spate of deadly terrorist attacks across the country, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
