STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI: Afghan women praised Pakistan’s hospitality for refugees before their repatriation to their country and also thanked the Pakistani government for hosting them for nearly two decades.
While talking to the media, Afghan women expressed gratitude to the Pakistani government for hosting them for decades. A group of Afghan women made the statement before leaving for the Chaman border crossing to return to Afghanistan.
A woman said that they are happy and satisfied with Pakistan’s hospitality for Afghan refugees. She said that they stayed in Karachi’s Nazimabad area for 20 years.
The women said that they faced no difficulties while residing in Pakistan. They told the media that the government and the people took care of them and they are now returning to their homeland with their consent.
A total of 20,132 undocumented Afghan migrants voluntarily returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan between October 3 to 26.
The government of Pakistan has set a deadline of November 01 for illegal residents and migrants to leave the country otherwise they will be deported.
Deputy Commissioner Chaman Raja Athar Abbas said Afghan migrants returning to their country are being provided with medical, food, and other basic facilities.
Refugee Centre at Bab-e-Dosti Chaman is fully operational, he added.
Meanwhile, the Afghan nationals returning to Kabul expressed their happiness and gratitude to the government of Pakistan and its people for hosting them for years.
On Thursday, the first chartered flight departed from Islamabad International Airport to the United Kingdom (UK) to relocate about 200 Afghan refugees.
Around 3,000 Afghans, many of whom worked for the British army, were evacuated to be provided residence in the UK following the Afghan Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August 2021.
Pakistani Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti, when announcing the deadline in early October, said an estimated 1.7 million Afghans are among those facing forcible eviction.
Bugti further said that a task force had been constituted which would take action against illegal immigrants. “Pakistan is the only country permitting entry of people even without a passport,” the minister decried.