As the deadline for repatriation of registered Afghan refugees, those carrying Proof of Registration (PoR) cards expires today [Monday], a recommendation for extension of stay for PoR card holders in Pakistan has been moved to the federal cabinet for approval.
“The deadline ends today but it has been recommended to the federal government to extend the stay,” a senior official privy to the development said.
The official, who requested anonymity since he was not entitled to speak to media, stated that the repatriation of Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders began in April 2025 and is still continuing. He added that over 0.7 million ACC holders are still in Pakistan with many preparing to leave.
Sources said that apart from ACC holders, the government set a June 30 deadline for over 1.3 million PoR holders living across the country to leave for Afghanistan adding that although the deadline expired, an extension was proposed to the federal government.
Many PoR card holders, who never thought about being sent back to Afghanistan, and since they were registered with the government, established their businesses in Pakistan with many never having been to Afghanistan, see serious problems waiting for them back home.
“We never thought about it since we are documented and, I can say, are legally living in Pakistan. Seriously, I have never been to Afghanistan and the toughest job for me right now is, how do I just pack up,” said Hamidul Haq, a 27-year-old Afghan national, who runs a departmental store in Peshawar.
According to Haq, almost all his relatives lived all their lives in Peshawar and leaving back for Afghanistan was like starting from ‘zero’ again.
When asked about selling his store, Haq said he would never sell his business, which he spwnt years building, in exchange for pennies and hoped the government extended the deadline giving him the opportunity to find a suitable customer to sell his store.
The first phase for repatriation of illegal immigrants began back in 2023 when the illegal immigrants, mostly Afghan nationals, were asked to leave. The government established registration points for the illegal Afghan nationals who would be registered with NADRA before being sent back home.
During the second phase, the government gave March 31, 2025 deadline for ACC holders. The phase is still underway.
According to the data available with Khabarkada, some 562,659 Afghan nationals, including ACC holders and those living in Pakistan illegally, have left for Afghanistan via several border crossings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The last updates from June 17 read that the total number of Afghan nationals, who had been residing illegally in Pakistan and had left, was 541,337. It read that some 40,221 ACC holders also left the country between April 1 to June 16 through border crossings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The document says that almost 15,066 Afghan nationals were sent to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from others provinces, Islamabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. It adds that 3,003 Afghan nationals were sent from Islamabad, 11,113 from Punjab, one from Gilgit Baltistan, 905 from Azad Jammu and Kashmir while 44 Afghan nationals were sent from Sindh province and were deported to Afghanistan. It read that a majority of these refugees, some 555,073 Afghan nationals—both illegally residing in Pakistan and ACC holders—left for Afghanistan via Torkham border crossing in Khyber district, some 6,887 crossed into Afghanistan via Angoor Adda in South Waziristan district, 968 via Kharlachi border crossing in Kurram district while one person left through the Sost Border in Gilgit Baltistan.
