ISLAMABAD (AFP): More than 100,000 Afghans have left Pakistan in the past three weeks, the interior ministry said Tuesday, after Islamabad announced the widespread cancelation of residence permits.
Calling Afghans “terrorists and criminals,” the Pakistan government launched its mass eviction campaign on April 1.
Analysts say the expulsions are designed to pressure the neighboring country’s Taliban authorities, which Islamabad blames for fueling a rise in border attacks.
The interior ministry told AFP that “100,529 Afghans have left in April.”
Convoys of Afghan families have been heading to the border since the start of April when the deadline to leave expired, crossing into a country mired in a humanitarian crisis.
Afghanistan’s prime minister Hasan Akhund on Saturday condemned the “unilateral measures” taken by its neighbor after Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar flew to Kabul for a day-long visit to discuss the returns.
