Pakistan asks Afghan Citizen Card holders to leave by March 31
The Hindu
Pakistan sets March 31, 2025 deadline for Afghan Citizen Card holders to leave voluntarily, impacting documented Afghan refugees.
“The Pakistan Government has set March 31, 2025 as the deadline for Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders to leave Pakistan voluntarily as part of a plan to repatriate all illegal foreigners,” according to an official document.
The document, purportedly leaked to the media on Friday night (March 7, 2025), indicated that the ACC holders staying in Islamabad and Rawalpindi would be moved out and sent back to Afghanistan as part of a multiphase relocation plan for Afghan migrants, including those awaiting resettlement in third countries.
Pakistan to send registered Afghan refugees back to their country
The decision comes amidst deteriorating ties between Islamabad and Kabul over the issue of terrorism and it may impact more than 8,00,000 documented Afghan refugees holding Afghan Citizen Cards and are included in the category of documented refugees, contrary to hundreds and thousands of undocumented ones.
It stated that the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Programme (IFRP) has been implemented since November 1, 2023 and in “continuation to the government’s decision to repatriate all illegal foreigners, the national leadership has now decided to also repatriate ACC holders”.
The rebounding of Pakistan’s Afghan strategy
“All illegal foreigners and ACC holders are advised to leave the country voluntarily before March 31, 2025; thereafter, deportation will commence with effect from April 1, 2025,” it warned.
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