Pakistan has verified the expulsion of over 80,000 Afghans since April 1.

Pakistan has announced that it has repatriated over 80,000 Afghan nationals since April 1, ahead of an extended April 30 deadline for the nation’s largest migrant group in a campaign termed “forced deportation” by Afghanistan.

Talal Chaudhry, adviser to Pakistan’s Interior Ministry, informed journalists in Islamabad on Friday that there will be no further extensions to the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan initiated in late 2023 for over three million Afghans.

“We have communicated clear instructions to all provinces, if anyone gives a shop, house, or any kind of space to an illegal foreigner, they will be held accountable under the law,” he said.

Those lacking valid documents or holding Afghan Citizen Cards had initially been ordered to leave by March 31. That deadline was later extended by a month.

On Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration, a UN entity, said Pakistan has expelled nearly 60,000 Afghans since the start of April.

“With a new wave of large-scale returns now under way from Pakistan, needs on the ground are rising rapidly – both at the border and in areas of return that are struggling to absorb large numbers of returnees,” Mihyung Park, head of the IOM’s Afghanistan mission, said at the time.

More than 1.3 million Afghans who hold Proof of Registration cards from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, have also been told to move outside the capital Islamabad and the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi.

On Saturday, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is due to visit Kabul, where he will head a delegation for high-level talks with the Taliban-led government.

“The talks will cover the entire gamut of the Pakistan-Afghan relationship, focusing on ways and means to deepen cooperation in all areas of mutual interests, including security, trade, connectivity, and people-to-people ties,” said a statement from Pakistan’s foreign office.