Tens of thousands of Afghans flee Pakistan as deadline looms

AFP :
More than 10,000 Afghan migrants rushed to the border on Tuesday, the last day of a deadline for 1.7 million Afghans to leave Pakistan voluntarily or face arrest and deportation.

The government has said it would begin arresting undocumented Afghans and taking them to new holding centres from Wednesday, from where they will be processed and forcibly returned to Afghanistan.

The Taliban government in Kabul says the policy amounts to “harassment”.

“Thousands of Afghan refugees are waiting for their turn in vehicles, lorries, and trucks, and the number continues to grow,” Irshad Mohmand, a senior government official at the Torkham border told AFP.

“More than 10,000 refugees have gathered since morning.”

More than 100,000 Afghan migrants have fled Pakistan since the start of October when the government announced that 1.7 million Afghans it says are living illegally in Pakistan have a one-month deadline to leave.