Pakistan to launch fresh Afghan deportations

Peshawar: Pakistan will begin a renewed push to deport Afghan migrants from the country next month, officials said Tuesday, as border tensions between...

Peshawar: Pakistan will begin a renewed push to deport Afghan migrants from the country next month, officials said Tuesday, as border tensions between the two countries escalate.

More than 500,000 Afghans fled Pakistan after Islamabad set a November deadline for undocumented migrants to leave or face arrest, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in January.

Pakistan defended the crackdown by pointing to security concerns and pressure on its struggling economy, but analysts said it was designed to pressure the Taliban government over militancy along its border.

"The military establishment informed us that the second phase of repatriating illegal Afghan immigrants will commence after Eid," a senior government official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"However, the specifics of this phase are yet to be disclosed."