The Ministry of Refugee and Repatriation of Afghanistan today announced that 40 Afghan nationals including five families were released from a prison in Karachi, following the efforts of the Afghan Diplomatic Mission in Islamabad. The released Afghan refugees will soon return to the country through the Spin Boldak land route, according to the ministry officials.
According to official sources, during search operations, Pakistani police have incarcerated Afghan migrants in different cities of Pakistan including, Karachi, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi over the past week on charges of failing to provide legal stay documents.
Afghanistan’s Refugees and Repatriation Ministry in a statement said that the release of 160 Afghans imprisoned in Pakistan’s Landi and Peche prisons is under administrative procedures, and their release will be issued by the relevant court within the next couple of days. So far, there is no data on the exact number of Afghan nationals being detained in Pakistani prisons.
Refugee authorities in Islamabad say that the released prisoners will be transferred to Spin Boldak and will be received by Kandahar Refugee and Repatriation Department to manage their safe return to Afghanistan.
Over the past month, hundreds of Afghan nationals have been released from Pakistani prisons and returned to Afghanistan. Most of these refugees were undocumented Afghan nationals who had failed to provide legal stay permits (visas) in the host country.
Since the overthrow of the previous regime in Afghanistan in August 2021, Pakistan experienced new waves of Afghan refugees, most of whom entered the country without visas through the Spin Boldak crossing point. In Pakistan, Afghan refugees are plagued with critical challenges including harassment, discrimination, unemployment, and worst of all the uncertain future that awaits them amid these difficult times.
