ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Wednesday no Afghan citizens would be allowed to live in Pakistan’s federal capital of Islamabad after Dec. 31 unless they were issued a special certificate by the district administration.

The move is the latest blow to Afghans living in Pakistan, with nearly 800,000 that Islamabad says were residing in the country ‘illegally’ expelled since November last year when the government launched a deportation drive that has drawn widespread criticism from international governments and rights organizations.

Authorities began expelling illegal foreigners from Nov. 1, 2023, following a spike in bombings which the Pakistan government says were carried out by Afghan nationals or by militants who cross over into Pakistan from neighboring Afghanistan. Islamabad has also blamed illegal Afghan immigrants and refugees for involvement in smuggling and other crimes. The Taliban government in Kabul says Pakistan’s security and other challenges are a domestic issue and cannot be blamed on the neighbor. 

Now, Pakistan is also accusing Afghan nationals of taking part in anti-government protests led by the party of jailed former premier Imran Khan. The Islamabad police chief said in a press conference on Wednesday that at least 19 Afghans were among over 900 rioters arrested during the latest protests in Islamabad that ended on Tuesday evening.

“If they [Afghans] want to live here, they need a NOC [no-objection certificate] from the deputy commissioner’s office,” Interior Ministry Mohsin Naqvi told reporters, “but after Dec. 31, no Afghan citizen can live in Islamabad without an NOC.”

Until the government initiated the expulsion drive last year, Pakistan was home to over four million Afghan migrants and refugees out of which around 1.7 million were undocumented. 

Afghans make up the largest portion of migrants, many of whom came after the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, but a large number have been present since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Islamabad insists the deportation drive is not aimed at any particular nationality but all ‘illegal aliens’ but the drive has disproportionately hit Afghans.