Afghan border crossings overwhelmed

More than 165,000 illegal aliens flee Pakistan so far

PESHAWAR:

Pakistan's northwestern border crossing was flooded with thousands of people looking to cross into Afghanistan on Thursday, a day after the government’s deadline expired for undocumented foreigners to leave or face expulsion.

Pakistani authorities had begun rounding up undocumented foreigners, most of them Afghans, hours before Wednesday's deadline. More than a million Afghans could have to leave or face arrest and forcible expulsion as a result of the ultimatum delivered by the Pakistan government a month ago.

Scrambling to cope with the sudden influx, the Taliban-run administration in Afghanistan said temporary transit camps had been set up, and food and medical assistance would be provided, but relief agencies reported dire conditions across the border.

"The organisations' teams stationed in the areas where people are returning from Pakistan have reported chaotic and desperate scenes among those who have returned," the Norwegian Refugee Council, Danish Refugee Council, and the International Rescue Committee said in a joint statement.

The Pakistan government has brushed off calls from the United Nations, rights groups and Western embassies to reconsider its expulsion plan, saying Afghans had been involved in attacks and crime that undermined the security of the country.

More than 24,000 Afghans crossed into Afghanistan using the Torkham border crossing on Wednesday alone, Deputy Commissioner Khyber Tribal District Abdul Nasir Khan told Reuters. Pakistan authorities have barred media access to the Torkham border crossing since Tuesday.

"There were a large number waiting for clearance and we made extra arrangements to better facilitate the clearance process," Khan said. Authorities had worked well into the night at a camp set up near the crossing, he added.

The border, at the Khyber Pass on the road between Peshawar and Jalalabad, is usually closed by sundown.
More than 165,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan in the month since its government ordered 1.7 million people to leave or face arrest and deportation, officials said Thursday.

The majority rushed to the border in the past several days as the November 1 deadline approached and police began to open up dozens of holding centres to detain arrested Afghans.

Major roads leading to border crossings were jammed with trucks carrying families and whatever belongings they could carry. The aid agencies estimated the number of arrivals at Torkham "had gone up from 300 people a day to 9,000 to 10,000 people daily since Pakistan's announcement." Agencies