{"id":2396,"date":"2025-04-01T15:03:43","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T15:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2396"},"modified":"2025-04-01T15:03:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T15:03:43","slug":"pakistan-delays-afghan-deportation-deadline-due-to-eid-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2396","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan delays Afghan deportation deadline due to Eid holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Pakistan has postponed a deadline for the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Afghans due to the Eidul Fitr holidays marking the end of Ramadan, a government official confirmed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The government had initially set a deadline for March 31 for Afghans holding specific documentation to leave the country, intensifying efforts to repatriate Afghan nationals. However, the government has now extended the deadline until the beginning of next week due to the holiday period, according to an official.<\/p>\n<p>Afghans holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) \u2013 issued by Pakistani authorities and reportedly held by 800,000 people, according to the United Nations \u2013 will be subject to deportation once the new deadline expires.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, more than 1.3 million Afghans with Proof of Registration (PoR) cards issued by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are set to be relocated outside the capital Islamabad and the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi.<\/p>\n<p>The UN estimates that nearly three million Afghans currently reside in Pakistan, with many having sought refuge over decades of conflict in their homeland. The number surged after the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Human rights groups have condemned Pakistan\u2019s deportation campaign. Moniza Kakar, a Pakistani human rights lawyer, warned that many Afghan refugees have lived in Pakistan for years and face an uncertain future if forced to return.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany have been living in the country for years, and going back means going back to nothing,\u201d Kakar said.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have escalated since the Taliban takeover. Islamabad accuses Kabul of harboring militants, a claim the Taliban government denies. In March, a Pakistani delegation met with Afghan officials in Kabul, emphasizing the importance of security cooperation in the region.<\/p>\n<p>The Taliban administration has repeatedly called for the \u201cdignified\u201d return of Afghan refugees. Prime Minister Hassan Akhund urged host countries not to forcibly remove Afghans, instead requesting support for their voluntary return.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe ask that instead of forced deportation, Afghans should be supported and provided with facilities,\u201d Akhund said in an Eid message delivered before Pakistan\u2019s original deadline.<\/p>\n<p>Following an ultimatum issued by Islamabad in\u00a02023 for undocumented Afghans to leave the country, more than 800,000 Afghans have returned to Afghanistan between September 2023 and the end of March 2024, according to UN figures.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pakistan has postponed a deadline for the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Afghans due to the Eidul Fitr holidays marking the end of Ramadan, a government official confirmed on Tuesday. The government had initially set a deadline for March 31 for Afghans holding specific documentation to leave the country, intensifying efforts to repatriate Afghan [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}