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
https://arab.news/2kkzf
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
Pakistani party announces countrywide protests on Friday against US-Israel strikes on Iran
- Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party chief urges Pakistan to withdraw from Trump’s Board of Peace body
- Calls for transparent probe into deaths of 10 protesters who stormed US consulate in Karachi
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani religious party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) announced it would hold countrywide protests against US and Israel’s aggression against Iran, calling on Islamabad to withdraw from US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace body.
Tensions have surged in the Middle East ever since Saturday, when US and Israel launched surprise airstrikes against Iran after months of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran confirmed on Sunday its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in the strikes, retaliating with drone and missile attacks against US military installations in the Gulf.
“The Jamaat-e-Islami chief expressed solidarity with the Iranian government and people and announced nationwide protests on Friday against what he described as US and Israeli aggression,” the JI said in a statement on Wednesday.
It quoted party chief Naeem ur Rehman as saying that the Board of Peace formed under the leadership of US President Donald Trump was a “sham.”
“He demanded that the Government of Pakistan immediately withdraw from the so-called Gaza Peace Board and urged both the government and opposition to openly condemn the US and Israeli attacks on Iran,” the JI added.
Rehman said it was necessary to defeat the “nefarious” plans of the US and Israel, warning that Israel could target Pakistan next.
The JI chief reiterated his demand for a transparent investigation into the killing of 10 protesters who had stormed the US consulate in Karachi on Sunday to protest Khamenei’s killing.
A Reuters report cited two American officials as saying that US Marines had fired at the demonstrators. However, the US officials said it was unclear whether rounds fired by Marines struck or killed anyone.
“The Jamaat-e-Islami chief appealed to protesters to remain peaceful and urged people from all walks of life to participate fully in Friday’s demonstrations,” the JI said.
The JI has regularly held large public rallies in Pakistan’s Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad cities against Israel for its military operations in Gaza.
