Official says 58 Afghan families sent back

HANGU: A senior official on Sunday said that 58 undocumented Afghan families and 269 individuals had been repatriated to Afghanistan before the expiry of the deadline so far.

Briefing reporters, Deputy Commissioner Fazal Akbar said that the district administration had taken proper steps for the repatriation of undocumented Afghan nationals. He said that 58 families and 269 individuals, who had no proper documents, had been sent back to their homeland with honour and respect.

The official said that the government would support those registered Afghan nationals, who wanted to repatriate voluntarily. He said that action would be taken against the illegal aliens as per the government policy.

The caretaker government had last month given an ultimatum to all undocumented immigrants to leave Pakistan by October 31 or else risk imprisonment and deportation. Authorities launched a crackdown on illegal immigrants, including 1.7 million Afghan nationals after a government-set deadline for them to leave the country expired.