Pakistan Deported Over 500,000 Afghans in 3 Months

I shed a tear

Wait, wait, wait.

You can just “deport” foreigners from your country? Like, you send them out and they don’t come back?

This is a real thing that governments can do to foreigners in their country?

How did I never hear about this?

Remix:

Pakistan has repatriated over half a million foreign nationals who had been living illegally in the country in just three months, the country’s interior ministry has told the Senate.

A major deportation drive was announced by the Pakistani government in October last year, telling migrants living in the country without the required documents proving they were authorized to do so they must go home by the end of the month.

The interior ministry estimated around 1.73 million Afghan nationals had no right to reside in Pakistan and warned they would be tracked down, detained, and forcibly removed from its territory should they not comply with the request voluntarily.

Wait – tracked down, detained, and forcibly removed?

Did anyone know a government had these abilities?

Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti cited the fact that a majority of suicide bombings that occurred in 2023 were carried out by Afghan nationals — 14 of the 24 recorded attacks.

“There are no two opinions that we are attacked from within Afghanistan and Afghan nationals are involved in attacks on us. We have given them a Nov. 1 deadline,” he told journalists last year.

In an update to lawmakers earlier this month, the department informed that more than 500,000 migrants had been removed from the country so far.


Coming soon to a Germany near you

“Around 1.7 million illegal aliens are unlawfully living in the country, the majority of whom are Afghans. They are living without any legal documentation necessary for staying in the country. 541,210 people have been sent back after the cabinet’s approval of the deportation plan for illegal residents,” its statement read.

Wait – illegal foreigners need documentation to stay in a country?

I never in my life heard of this rule.

It added that the remigration plan was in full swing and authorities were in the process of identifying further transgressors and taking the appropriate action to remove them.

A further 110,064 foreign nationals also left the country voluntarily during the timeframe, the ministry added.

Wait.

What?

If you start physically removing people, they will begin leaving voluntarily?

What the heck?

The move was heavily criticized by human rights advocacy groups but has shown how effective a dedicated plan by the authorities to combat illegal immigration.

Meanwhile in Europe, reports from Germany showed the country was planning to take in expelled Afghan nationals who did not wish to return to their Taliban-governed homeland.

Well, at least they don’t have to go back to Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, in the “civilized” world…