- KP CM says those who wish to leave voluntarily to be provided resources
- Says still waiting for centre to approve TOR to initiate talks with Afghan govt
ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Friday declared that the provincial government will not depart any Afghan refugee “forcibly.”
“No Afghan refugee will be repatriated by force from KP and we are against such kind of forcible deportation”, CM Gandapur stated while addressing a press conference in Islamabad.
The KP CM pointed out, “We have cultural and historical traditions regarding Afghan refugees,” adding that those refugees who wish to leave voluntarily would be provided with resources to facilitate their return with respect.
Responding to a question, the chief minister said that the only way forward with Afghanistan is through negotiations.
Raising questions over the intentions of the Centre, the KP CM said that they were still waiting for the federal government to approve the terms of reference (TOR) to initiate talks with the interim Afghanistan government led by the Afghan Taliban.
It is pertinent to mention here that the KP government had planned to send a provincial jirga to Kabul to address the bilateral issues, including the cross-border attacks and use of Afghan soil by terrorists.
CM Gandapur said that stability in the region was linked with peace in Afghanistan. He said that PTI had the solution to the menace of terrorism being faced by the country.
Responding to the incumbent government’s allegations about the resettlement of terrorists and the resurgence of militancy in the country, the CM termed the statements from the treasury benches “extremely irresponsible”.
Number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan
According to the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions’ (Safron) data, currently there are 2.1 million registered and unregistered Afghan refugees in Pakistan – 1.4 million legally registered, while 800,000 are holders of the Afghan Citizen Cards’ (ACC), but their stay is now considered illegal. However, the government claims that the total number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is three million, all of whom are set to be repatriated this year under the illegal foreign nationals’ deportation plan.
Afghan refugees fall into four categories
The first category consists of Afghan citizens who fled to Pakistan due to instability in Afghanistan and were granted official refugee status. In 2007, Pakistan issued Proof of Registration (PoR) Cards to these refugees, who now number around 1.3 million. The government issued these cards only once, renewing them periodically, with the current validity expiring on June 30, 2025.
The second category includes Afghan nationals who were issued Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC). Approximately 800,000 individuals received these cards in 2016, and they are now being repatriated as part of government deportation efforts.
The third category comprises Afghan nationals who fled to Pakistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021. These individuals were granted asylum under international protocols. While the Pakistani government initially claimed that 600,000 Afghans arrived after the US withdrawal, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) states that only 200,000 were officially registered.
The fourth category includes undocumented Afghan nationals who lack both PoR and ACC status and are not registered as asylum seekers from the 2021 influx. This category also includes those who have married in Pakistan and obtained fake national identity cards. Over the past two years, the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has been cancelling such fraudulent IDs through its National Verification and Renewal Drive, now classifying these individuals as illegal residents.
