PESHAWAR: The repatriation of Afghan refugees resumed at a rapid pace after the reopening of the Torkham border, with around 5,220 Afghan nationals returning to their homeland, authorities said on Sunday.
According to official data, 401 individuals crossed through legal channels, while 2,314 were undocumented. The number of Afghan nationals repatriated so far has exceeded 828,000, with the process continuing from other provinces as well.
On the same day, 19 refugees departed from Islamabad and 450 from Punjab, bringing the total number of returnees from various provinces to 25,392. From Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s transit points, 19 Afghan citizens were deported, while 7,261 detainees were repatriated from jails in Peshawar, Landi Kotal, and Kohat.
As per the latest figures, more than 54,000 legal and 628,000 undocumented Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan since the launch of the repatriation campaign.
Officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan confirmed on Saturday that the Torkham border crossing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had reopened for refugee movement. Khyber Deputy Commissioner Bilal Rao told local media that the crossing had been reopened earlier in the day for the resumption of repatriation.
Khizer Shah, the spokesman of the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, and Afghan officials also confirmed the development. “Torkham gate is now open for refugees. We welcome our countrymen,” said Qureshi Badloon, head of Information and Culture in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.
The return process had been abruptly suspended on October 11 following border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which lasted for several days before a ceasefire was formalised in Doha on October 19. Pakistan had closed all its borders with Afghanistan for all types of movement, leaving many families stranded.
Trade between the two countries has remained suspended since then, leading to price hikes of essential goods, especially tomatoes. Although Islamabad and Kabul agreed on Friday to extend the ceasefire, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said the “border remains closed for trade for now,” adding that resumption would depend on the security situation.
Officials said all relevant staff had been instructed to ensure their presence on duty for border operations. It was, however, unclear whether Pakistanis stranded in Afghanistan would also be allowed to return.
Afghan Consul General Hafiz Mohibullah Shakir said thousands of Afghan refugees had been stranded along the route from Nowshera to Torkham without access to food, water, or shelter due to the prolonged closure. He criticised the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for not providing assistance, saying that many stranded refugees held valid Proof of Registration (PoR) cards.
Following the border tensions, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed that the government would grant no further extensions to Afghan refugees and that all refugee camps would be shut down. Officials informed him earlier this month that as of October 16, a total of 1.47 million Afghan nationals had been repatriated.
The government has also warned that harbouring illegal Afghan residents will be treated as a serious offence and violators will face strict legal action.
