CNN —Pakistan is extending the stay of nearly 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees – but its mass deportation of “illegal immigrants” will continue, authorities said.
The fate of 1.45 million refugees whose PORs expired at the end of June had previously been in doubt, with many fearing they’d be deported.
But Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs disputed the UN’s claims that Islamabad had put on hold its plan announced last October to deport undocumented Afghan refugees.
Trucks transporting Afghan refugees and their belongings are seen along a road heading toward the Pakistan-Afghanistan Torkham border on November 3, 2023.
More than 3 million Afghan refugees, including registered refugees and more than 800,000 undocumented people were living in Pakistan as of March 2024, according to UNHCR data.
Persons:
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Organizations:
CNN, United Nations, Pakistan’s, of Foreign Affairs, Trucks, Getty, Pakistan, Afghan, UNHCR, Taliban, UN, ” Police, South Asia, Amnesty International
Locations:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Islamabad, AFP, Karachi, South