QUETTA: Afghan refugees living in Dalbandin, Chaghi, Nokundi and Taftan in western Balochistan have been ordered to leave Pakistan by March 31, 2025; or otherwise they will be forcibly evicted from there.
According to media reports, government of Pakistan had drafted a three-stage repatriation plan for Afghan refugees promised resettlement by the US, calling on foreign missions to coordinate the relocation of Afghan nationals out of Islamabad and Rawalpindi by March 31.
If they’re not removed by that date, they will be “repatriated to Afghanistan”, said the drafted Pakistani plan.
When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in 2021, hundreds of thousands of refugees fled across the border to Pakistan, seeking safety away from the group.
Afghan nationals who had worked with the United States or NATO forces were particularly fearful of reprisals from the Taliban.
Promised resettlement in the US, many travelled to Pakistan to await American visas.
Now they fear they’ll be deported back to Afghanistan, following US President Donald Trump’s order to suspend the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), effectively locking out refugees worldwide who had been on a pathway to US resettlement.
Soon after the executive order was signed, Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Office drafted a three-stage repatriation plan for “Afghan nationals bound for third country resettlement.”
The document calls for foreign missions to coordinate the relocation of Afghan nationals out of Islamabad and its twin city of Rawalpindi by March 31, 2025. If they’re not removed by that date, they will be “repatriated to Afghanistan.”
