ISLAMABAD: Over 165,000 Afghans have left Pakistan since Islamabad issued an ultimatum to 1.7 million people a month ago to leave or face arrest and deportation, officials said Thursday.
Over 129,000 Afghan nationals have departed from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as reported by the provincial home department. Additionally, a total of 38,100 have crossed the border through Chaman in Balochistan, according to border officials who spoke to AFP.
The majority of these individuals hurried to the border in the days leading up to the November 1 deadline, as police started establishing numerous holding centres for detained Afghan nationals.
Officials at the country’s busiest border point at Torkham in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province worked tirelessly into the early hours of Thursday to process a queue of 28,000 people that extended for seven kilometres.
