Pakistan Speeds Up Deportation of Afghan Citizens in Declining Bilateral Relations

10 april ,2025 -Pakistan has stepped up efforts to deport illegal Afghan citizens from the country, deepening a humanitarian and diplomatic crisis that has attracted intense international focus. With more than 20 lakh (2 million) Afghans to be repatriated, the government has started forcibly sending thousands from all parts of the country, leading to a huge surge of refugees at multiple border crossing points.

This new push follows the lapse of a grace period during Eid holidays. Authorities have now restarted round-ups of Afghan nationals, including those holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC). The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has, in the last week alone, confirmed that more than 9,000 Afghans were deported, and the number is expected to surge sharply in the next few days. Thousands more are being held and processed for deportation in all four provinces—Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)—according to local media.

Temporary holding facilities have been set up in cities across Pakistan to hold Afghans who are to be deported. From these camps, Afghan nationals are being shipped to crossing points, mainly with Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) stated that on average 4,000 Afghans entered Afghanistan on April 7 and 8—a staggering increase from the daily March average of only 77.

This is the second large-scale wave of expulsions within recent months. During the previous round, carried out in late 2023, more than 800,000 Afghans were driven from their homes, prompting a global outcry by human rights groups. The fresh push comes amid growing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, especially over cross-border militancy and what Islamabad perceives as Kabul’s inaction against anti-Pakistan militants operating from Afghan territory.

Islamabad had previously set a deadline, giving all illegal Afghans and ACC holders a chance to go voluntarily or get forcibly deported. Intelligence agencies have now directed provincial officials to speed up the process, with door-to-door searches and stepped-up operations in areas dominated by Afghans.

But this far-reaching policy has also faced some resistance from within. Sounding a discordant note, KP Chief Minister Aman Ali Gandapur said his provincial government would not implement forced repatriation of Afghan refugees. He underscored the humanitarian implications and historical cultural bonds between the people of KP and Afghan communities, most of whom have resided in the province for decades.

Apart from such dissenting voices, the federal government seems bent on going ahead with its expulsion campaign. The critics claim that the policy threatens to destabilize the region further, exacerbating the refugee situation in Afghanistan where relief infrastructure and humanitarian resources are already over-stretched.

As thousands more await deportation in the next few weeks, the situation continues to be fluid and charged. Rights organizations and international monitors have urged restraint and a more humane, coordinated strategy for repatriating refugees that protects all involved from violence, ensures dignity, and affords legal rights.