ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan will expel hundreds of thousands more Afghans who have been living in the country for years, the foreign ministry said Thursday, the latest in a monthslong government clampdown on undocumented migrants.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told reporters this would be the “second phase” of the “Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan” and it would involve persons who had been given identification documents known as “Afghan citizen cards” to legalize their stay in Pakistan for a limited time.
An announcement about the action would be made “at an appropriate time,” she said at a weekly news briefing in the capital, Islamabad.
Pakistan’s crackdown on undocumented migrants has drawn sweeping criticism from the United Nations, aid agencies and human rights groups.