Nearly 525,000 Afghan migrants return home from Pakistan

According to a social media post by the IOM, many returning Afghans were forced to leave everything behind in Pakistan. The organization emphasized the need for assistance for these returning migrants.

This follows Pakistan's initiation of a deportation process in November last year targeting Afghans without residency documents. Since then, hundreds of thousands of migrants have been forcibly or voluntarily returned to Afghanistan.

Pakistan is reportedly planning a second phase of deportations, with Pakistani media outlets stating that the Ministry of Interior has ordered the Punjab state government to begin deporting Afghan citizens with valid citizenship cards on April 15th, 2024. (ILKHA)