Government orders arrests of Afghan nationals without valid visas

ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry has directed law enforcement agencies across the country to arrest Afghan citizens living in Pakistan without valid visas from July 10 as part of an intensified deportation campaign.

According to a letter dated July 28 and sent to the administrations of all four provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad, the ministry instructed authorities to speed up the repatriation and deportation of Afghan nationals residing in the country illegally.

The ministry stated "with effect from 10 July, 2026, any Afghan national found residing in Pakistan without a valid visa shall be arrested immediately".

It also asked the relevant authorities to submit a daily report to the ministry from July 11 onward, specifying the number of Afghan nationals found without valid visas, the action taken against them and their current status.

Directive issued after Karachi camp attack

The directive was dated Sunday, a day after an attack on a Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) camp in Karachi killed three Rangers personnel and injured four others.

In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations said the attackers set off an explosion at the main gate of the camp and then tried to breach the outer security perimeter. It said Rangers personnel responded and killed three militants, while one attacker was captured in an injured state.

According to the military's media wing, the injured suspect identified himself as Usman Ali and said he belonged to Jamaat ul Ahrar, which the statement described as an India-backed militant group.

The statement said the suspect told interrogators he was from Jalalabad in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province and named the three other attackers as Abdul Hadi, Janan and Umar Farooq. He also said the group had received training in Afghanistan, including instruction in making suicide jackets and other militant training under a trainer identified as Umar Qari.

Foreign Office demarche

Earlier, the Foreign Office said it had summoned the Afghan Charge d'Affaires and lodged a strong demarche over the Karachi attack.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said in a statement on X that the Afghan envoy was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the previous night and was handed the protest over the incident.

He added that Pakistan's Ambassador Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani had simultaneously conveyed a similar demarche to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul.