Islamabad: Pakistan opened more border crossings on Friday to expedite the return of thousands of undocumented Afghan nationals, an official said, Dawn reported. Dawn is a Pakistani English language newspaper.
Abdul Nasir Khan, deputy commissioner of Khyber district, said facilities at the northwestern border of Torkham, where most migrants are re-entering Afghanistan, have been expanded three times to cater to the increasing number of returnees. According to Dawn, those arriving in Afghanistan complained of difficulties in getting out of Pakistan and uncertainty about their future.
Mohammed Ismail Rafi, 55, who said he had lived in Chaman for 22 years, where he had a retail business, said: “We spent three days at the border in Pakistan. Our situation was very bad.” “Thank God we came back to our country,” he said. It took him six days to leave his home in Pakistan with his 16 family members and belongings and reach a makeshift tent village on the other side of the border.
Rafi accused Pakistani officials of taking bribes to process his repatriation. However, Pakistani officials deny the allegations. According to Dawn, Rafi rented a house in Kandahar to stay temporarily before moving to his ancestral home in Helmand province.
Meanwhile, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid recently called on countries hosting Afghan refugees not to forcefully deport them as the migrants have no preparation for this yet.
Mujahid also called for tolerance based on Islamic and neighborly etiquette, Tolo News reported. Tolo News is an Afghan news channel broadcast from Kabul. The Taliban spokesman said that due to wars in Afghanistan in the last 45 years, Afghans have been forced to migrate to different countries. According to Mujahid’s statement, Afghans have not created problems or instability in the host countries.
He urged neighboring countries to treat them fairly, Tolo News reported. This comes after Pakistan’s caretaker government has declared October 31 as the deadline for Afghan refugees to leave the country. Nearly 2 million Afghan refugees were asked to leave Pakistan by the deadline or face forced deportation.