Repatriation of Afghan nationals resumes

QUETTA: The repatriation of Afghan nationals resumed on Tuesday after Afghan authorities opened the border with Pakistan that had been closed earlier who also demanded the return of Pakistanis stranded in Afghanistan due to the lockdown.

Due to border closure by Afghanistan, the return of Afghan nationals had been suspended earlier on April 6.

However, Afghan officials informed Pakistani border officials that they are ready to open the border for repatriation of Afghan nationals. Pakistan had opened the border with Afghanistan on the special request of Kabul to allow thousands of Afghan nationals to cross into their country.

The Pak-Afghan border opened around 9 am in Chaman where thousands of Afghans including women and children had gathered to return to Afghanistan.

Afghan nationals began crossing the border after completing the required immigration process. FIA and security officials said only those Afghans were allowed to enter into Afghanistan who had a valid passport and visa along with their Afghan national identity cards.

Around 6,000 Afghan nationals went back till the border was closed.

“The process of checking documents at the Afghan side was slow due to which several thousand Afghan nationals gathered at the border could not return till the official border closing time,” official sources said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2020.