FIA have authority to expel illegal foreigners from Pakistan, Govt

26 days for all illegal foreigners living in Pakistan to exit,

Majority of Afghan nationals settled in KP have legal documents,

Islamabad_The caretaker government of Pakistan has taken an important decision to give powers to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to expel illegal foreigners from the country.
FIA will also supervise legal proceedings against the prisoners who will be required in different cases.
As per the decision of the government, FIA will set up counters in various jails to collect data on foreign prisoners while immigration counters will be set up in 5 major jails across the country for the return of Afghans.
The government has also decided that FIA will scrutinize the prisoners to put their names on the deportation list and also monitor the process of their deportation.

All illegal foreigners living in Pakistan now have only 26 days to exit the country.

The Pakistan government had set the deadline of October 31 for all illegal foreign residents to exit the country. The government has also stressed that after the deadline, the law enforcement agencies would arrest the illegal residents and ensure they are deported to their home countries.

The deadline for the operation against illegal immigrants residing in Pakistan depends on their number and the measures taken, said FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch at the weekly media briefing.

Meanwhile, the crackdown on illegal Afghan immigrants is under way in Karachi. After their arrest, they will be shifted to jails in interior Sindh due to overcrowding in Karachi prisons, it has been decided.

In the last two days, 748 immigrants have been brought to jail, according to the jails inspector general of Sindh. He added that the jails of Karachi are overcrowded.

After running out of space in Karachi, it has been decided to shift the prisoners to jails in interior Sindh.

The IG said that the sentence for the Afghans arrested under the Foreigners Act was three months and after completion of the sentence, the prisoners are deported.

On the other hand, Pakistan has accelerated the process of geotagging and tracking illegal Afghan immigrants in the country, and a survey has also been issued for their return home.

Significant progress has now been made in this regard, and a survey has been issued to track and return the illegally residing Afghan nationals.

A recent Fourth Schedule Mapping of Punjab by the police and security institutions identified 2,291 trained Afghan extremists, while 541 persons released from Afghan jails have also been included in the watch list.

According to police records, the number of identity cardholders and documented registered Afghans in Punjab is more than 275,000, while there is no record of over-stayers and illegal residents. Out of these, 88,295 are Afghan citizen card-holders, while 186,904 possess proof of registration card.

On Oct 3, the national apex committee on security had decided to kickstart an operation to oust any illegal Afghan immigrants after which an intense crackdown was launched and hundreds arrested.

Most of the nearly a million Afghan nationals living in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province possess legal documents for stay in Pakistan, government data reveals.

Data shared with Aaj News by authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shows that over 300,000 Afghans were settled in the province illegally, and more than 3,000 were found guilty of criminal activities.

The data shows that a total of 956,720 Afghan nationals were residing in KP. Of them 648,968 have documents while 307,752 failed to produce any proof of legal stay in Pakistan.

At least 22,039 Afghans were settled in erstwhile tribal districts. At least 105 Afghan nationals were serving as prayer leaders in different mosques. Authorities said that 597 illegal migrants obtained national identification cards of Pakistan which have been canceled by the authorities. In 2023, the country issued visas to 116,418 Afghan nations.