ISLAMABAD: The British High Commission in Islamabad said on Tuesday that the UK government would honor its commitment to resettle Afghan refugees who were promised sanctuary in Britain, after Pakistan last week threatened to deport illegal immigrants from Nov. 1.

According to a report in the British newspaper ‘The Independent,’ the UK government is actively searching for accommodations for Afghans eligible for asylum in the UK. The report said nearly 3,000 Afghans, many of whom had worked with the British army, were stranded in Islamabad for months after the UK stopped chartering flights last year and demanded refugees find their own housing in Britain before travel.

The report said last week Pakistani police conducted a raid on a hotel in Islamabad housing Afghans bound for the UK and arrested several individuals whose Pakistani visas had expired.

The action followed last week’s statement by Pakistan’s Caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti, who warned illegal immigrants in Pakistan to leave the country by Nov.1 or face deportation, saying that only those who possess valid passports and visas would be allowed to enter the country after next month.

“We continue to honor our commitments to bring eligible Afghans to the UK, and will arrange and pay for their travel when suitable accommodation in the UK has been secured,” Muhammad Asif Iqbal, the head of media at BHC in Islamabad, told Arab News.

He said the UK had made an “ambitious and generous commitment” to help at-risk people in Afghanistan. “So far, we have brought around 24,600 people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for our Afghan schemes,” Iqbal added.

According to The Independent’s report, a small number of Afghan families have already been transported to the UK via commercial flights this week, and efforts are underway to facilitate the relocation of more families.

As per the report, the UK government has written to councils that have free service family accommodation spots to see if they can house Afghan families there.

Pakistani officials say hundreds of thousands of Afghans have entered Pakistan since the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan in August 2021. Even before these events, Pakistan had hosted approximately 1.5 million registered refugees, constituting one of the world’s largest refugee populations as per the United Nations refugee agency. Additionally, over a million Afghan nationals are estimated to live in Pakistan unregistered.

Pakistan’s government, grappling with its own economic crisis and a notable increase in militant attacks, is growing increasingly wary of the presence of Afghans within Pakistan. Last month, police initiated a crackdown against those residing in Pakistan without proper legal documentation, resulting in the arrest of several Afghans.

Pakistan’s threat to deport illegal immigrants from the country was criticized last week by Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban administration in Kabul, who termed it as “unacceptable.”

Mujahid said Afghan refugees were not responsible for Pakistan’s security problems and urged Islamabad to “tolerate them.”