KABUL: Nearly 60,000 Afghans have been forced to leave Pakistan since the start of April, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday, after Islamabad ramped up a campaign to deport migrants to Afghanistan.
“Between 1 and 13 April 2025, IOM recorded a sharp rise in forced returns, with nearly 60,000 individuals crossing back into Afghanistan through the Torkham and Spin Boldak border points,” the UN agency said in a statement.
“With a new wave of large-scale returns now underway from Pakistan, needs on the ground are rising rapidly — both at the border and in areas of return that are struggling to absorb large numbers of returnees,” said Mihyung Park, head of the agency’s Afghanistan mission.
Pakistan last month set an early April deadline for some 800,000 Afghans carrying Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) issued by Pakistan authorities to leave the country.
Families with their belongings in tow have crowded key border crossings of Torkham in the north and Spin Boldak in the south, recalling scenes in 2023 when tens of thousands of Afghans fled deportation threats in Pakistan.
The UN says nearly three million Afghans live in Pakistan, many having been there for decades, after fleeing successive conflicts in their country and following the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul in 2021.
Nearly 60,000 Afghans returned from Pakistan in two weeks— UN agency
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Nearly 60,000 Afghans returned from Pakistan in two weeks— UN agency
- Pakistan last month set early April deadline for some 800,000 Afghan Citizen Card holders to leave country
- UN says nearly three million Afghans live in Pakistan who escaped to neighboring country to escape conflict
Pakistan, Bangladesh agree to strengthen economic, trade and tax cooperation
- Bangladesh High Commissioner Iqbal Hussain Khan meets Federal Board of Revenue chairman in Islamabad
- A delegation of Bangladesh’s revenue authority is in Pakistan to discuss tax convention between Islamabad, Dhaka
ISLAMABAD: Bangladesh High Commissioner Iqbal Hussain Khan met Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial this week to discuss measures related to enhancing economic, trade and tax cooperation, the FBR said in a statement.
Currently, a high-level delegation of Bangladesh’s National Board of Revenue (NBR) is on a five-day visit to Pakistan to initiate negotiations to amend the existing Convention for Avoidance of Double Taxation & Prevention of Fiscal Evasion regarding taxes on income.
Khan met Langrial at the FBR headquarters in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Monday during which both sides reviewed their historic ties and agreed to strengthen them further.
“FBR spokesperson and NBR exchanged views and shared experiences on matters relating to international taxation and agreed to enhance institutional collaboration through regular engagements for stronger economic cooperation,” the FBR said in a statement on social media platform X.
Islamabad and Dhaka have attempted to move closer in recent times after the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024 following violent protests in Bangladesh.
During Hasina’s tenure, Bangladesh had bitter ties with Pakistan and had forged closer relations with Islamabad’s traditional rival India.
Pakistan and Bangladesh were part of the same country in 1971 before the latter seceded into a separate country following a bloody war.
