1 year ago
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An Afghan family rides on a tricycle, past buses loaded with belongings as many Afghan refugees are returning home, after Pakistan gave last warning to undocumented migrants to leave, at a bus stop in Karachi, Pakistan October 25, 2023. (Photo/ Reuters)
ISLAMABAD: Western embassies and the United Nations are urging Pakistan to incorporate into its plan to deport hundreds of thousands of
undocumented migrants
a way to identify and protect Afghans who face the risk of persecution at home, officials told Reuters.
Pakistan has set November 1 for the start of the
expulsions
, which could leave more than 1.7 million Afghans vulnerable in the South Asian nation, from a total of 4 million migrants and refugees from its neighbour.
"We are asking the government to come up with a comprehensive system and ... mechanism to manage and register people at immediate risk of persecution if forced to return," Qaiser Khan Afridi, the spokesman for the UN refugee agency in Pakistan, told Reuters.
"Because they cannot return, they can't go back to Afghanistan because their freedom or their life might be at risk."
English (US)