ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan held a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom today, Monday, and urged him to reconsider his country’s decision to place Pakistan on a “red list” of nations banned from travel to the UK.
Effective April 9, the UK banned entry to people arriving from countries on a “red list” unless they were British or Irish nationals. It announced that those who came to Britain from countries on the red list would be refused entry, while returning Britons must submit to 10 days of mandatory quarantine in hotels.
The cost for one adult to quarantine in a government-approved hotel room for 10 days is £1,750, which does not include the mandatory £210 each passenger has to pay for testing in this period. A negative coronavirus test in this time does not shorten the duration of the quarantine.
Many expats stuck in Pakistan have said the cost of quarantine is unaffordable for them and many are still biding their time in their country of origin until the UK changes its policy or the Pakistan government comes to their rescue.
“The Prime Minister impressed upon the UK to revisit the decision of placing Pakistan on Red List of travel ban countries,” the Pakistani PM’s office said in a statement, adding that the two leaders “exchanged views on the current trajectory of bilateral relations, the Afghan peace process, the Covid-19 Pandemic and climate change.”
“Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed the hope that Pakistan and the UK would be able to forge an even stronger partnership going forward, particularly in the domains of trade and investments. The two leaders agreed on the importance of high level exchanges between the two countries,” the statement said, adding:
“The Prime Minister lauded efforts of Prime Minister Boris Johnson in effectively combating Covid-19 pandemic in the UK. He also briefed his British counterpart on measures taken by Pakistan to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic while saving lives, securing livelihoods, and stimulating the economy.”
On Afghanistan, Khan reiterated Pakistan’s support for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process and his long standing stance that there was no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and a negotiated political solution was the only way forward.
“Underscoring the importance of a responsible withdrawal, the Prime Minister apprised his British counterpart of Pakistan’s on-going efforts to support the Afghan peace process as part of a shared responsibility,” the PM office said.
PM urges UK to revisit decision to place travel ban on Pakistan
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PM urges UK to revisit decision to place travel ban on Pakistan
- Effective April 9, UK banned entry to people arriving from countries on a “red list” unless they were British or Irish nationals
- It announced that those who came from countries on red list would be refused entry, returning Britons to go through 10 day quarantine in hotels
UN says 270,000 Afghans have returned from Iran, Pakistan this year
- UNHCR says 110,000 Afghans returned from Iran while 160,000 returned from Pakistan since start of 2026
- Return numbers seem to have risen since Gulf war erupted on Feb. 28, says UNHCR official in Afghanistan
GENEVA: Some 270,000 Afghans have returned to their country from Pakistan and Iran so far this year, the UN said Tuesday, warning that the escalating Middle East war risked pushing the numbers higher.
UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, said that 110,000 Afghans had returned from Iran and another 160,000 had returned from Pakistan since the start of 2026.
And the numbers seem to have risen since the Middle East erupted on February 28, with the United States and Israel unleashing a barrage of strikes on Iran, and Tehran responding with drone and missile strikes on Israeli and US interests across the region.
Since then, there have been some 1,700 returns from Iran to Afghanistan each day, Arafat Jamal, UNHCR’s representative in Afghanistan, told reporters in Geneva.
Speaking from Islam Qala, on the Afghan-Iranian border, he said the situation there was “deceptively calm.”
“Returns are orderly but freighted with tension and apprehension,” he said, adding that with the hostilities elsewhere escalating, “I do fear there is more to come.”
“We are preparing for massive returns.”
He pointed out that Afghanistan was “facing the ramifications of what is happening with Iran,” while clashes have erupted along the Afghan border with Pakistan.
The new Middle East war, he warned, was “layering itself on top of an existing war on another frontier,” Jamal said.
UNHCR highlighted that the latest crises came after returns to Afghanistan had already been “exceptionally high” in recent years.
More than five million Afghans had returned from neighboring countries in the past two years, including 1.9 million returning from Iran last year alone.
Jamal warned that “many Afghan families are now facing cycles of displacement: first forced to flee Afghanistan, later displaced again inside Iran due to conflict, and now returning once more to Afghanistan.”
“And upon return in Afghanistan, the triply-displaced enter a spiral of precarity and uncertainty.”
Returns from Pakistan had meanwhile stabilized in recent weeks, as the main crossing point at Torkham remained closed due to the tensions there, Jamal said.
But he warned that “movements could increase sharply once the border reopens.”
UNHCR and the UN children’s agency UNICEF said Tuesday they were working to strengthen their capacity to operate at the borders and within Afghanistan.
But “given the scale of returns and the financial constraints facing humanitarian operations, additional support will be needed if arrivals increase,” UNHCR said, without specifying the amount needed.
