ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet has approved the repatriation plan for illegally residing Afghan citizens/foreigners allegedly because they pose serious threats to the security of country, it was learned on Tuesday.
According to sources, illegally residing Afghan citizens have allegedly been found involved in terrorism, dollar, sugar, and fertilizer smuggling. Similarly, these illegally residing Afghan citizens are allegedly involved in funding and facilitating terrorists. Illegally resident foreigners pose serious threats to the security of Pakistanis. Furthermore, after America left Afghanistan in 2021, four lakh Afghans came to Pakistan illegally, and seven lakh Afghans did not renew their proof of residence in Pakistan. However, the federal cabinet, through circulation of the summary, has decided repatriation/deportation of 11 lakh foreigners staying in the country illegally as they are not in possession of valid documents authorizing them to stay in the country, said sources.
Sharing details of the eviction plan, the sources said that in the first phase, it has been decided to expel those who resided illegally and did not renew their visas. And, in the second phase, Afghan citizens, and in the third phase, those with proof of residence cards, will be evicted from the country. The Ministry of Interior has prepared the plan in consultation with all stakeholders, including the Afghan government, sources added.
Official documents available with this scribe disclose that an estimated 0.4 million to 0.5 million Afghan citizens entered the country without any valid documents after the US exit from Afghanistan on 15th August, 2021. In addition, there are 0.74 million Afghan citizens in Pakistan who never appeared for renewal of their Proof of Residence (PoR) cards.
“The illegal foreigners pose serious threat the security of the country. The deteriorating law and order situation, surge in number of crimes, and smuggling of essential commodities , currency and other contrabands across the border, necessitate that they are deported/repatriated back to their countries of origin, “ said documents.
As per documents, an Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP) has been formulated in consultation with all the stakeholder, including the provincial/regional governments, to repatriate the illegal foreigners. The plan comprises of mechanism to consolidate the database of illegal foreigners in the country, check entry of new illegal entrants, apprehension /deportation/repatriation of illegal/overstaying foreigners and implementation of One Documents Regime.
The Plan suggests that the process of repatriation shall be carried out in successive phases. The illegal/unregistered foreigners and those who are overstaying their visa validity periods shall be repatriated in the first phase. In the next phases, repatriation/deportation of Afghan Citizens Cards (ACC) and Proof of Residence (PoR) card holders shall be repatriated after consensus of all the stakeholders, said documents.
