Acting on federal directives, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has issued an official order mandating the deportation of all Afghan refugees residing in the province who hold expired Proof of Registration (PoR) cards or Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC). The provincial Home and Tribal Affairs Department confirmed that the validity of these documents ended on July 31, 2025, rendering all such refugees unlawfully present.
The expulsion order applies to tens of thousands of Afghans who had previously been granted temporary legal stay in Pakistan. “All Afghan nationals whose PoR and ACC documents have expired will be deported,” the official directive stated, adding that transit arrangements have been finalized at designated repatriation points in Peshawar and Landi Kotal in Khyber district.
This development comes amid growing pressure on provincial and federal institutions to regulate undocumented migration and uphold national immigration laws, while balancing humanitarian responsibilities.
According to the UNHCR Operational Data Portal, Pakistan was hosting 1,362,800 registered Afghan refugees as of June 30, 2025. In addition, the Government of Pakistan estimates that approximately 600,000 undocumented Afghans have entered the country since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hosts the largest concentration of Afghan refugees, accounting for 52.7% of the total registered population, followed by Balochistan (24.0%), Punjab (14.3%), Sindh (5.5%), and Islamabad (3.2%). The majority—68.6%—reside in urban or semi-urban areas, while the remainder live in designated refugee villages.
While the provincial government asserts that the repatriation process is in accordance with Pakistani law, the move is expected to draw close scrutiny from international observers and rights groups. The UNHCR has repeatedly warned of the deteriorating humanitarian conditions inside Afghanistan, particularly for women and girls, raising serious concerns about the safety of returnees.
Human rights advocates have urged Pakistani authorities to ensure that deportations are conducted with full respect for human dignity and in line with international legal obligations, particularly the principle of non-refoulement.
In the coming weeks, provincial authorities are expected to launch coordinated operations to identify and repatriate all Afghans with expired legal status, as Pakistan moves into a new phase of migration enforcement—one that could reshape the future of Afghan displacement in the region.
