Islamabad [Pakistan], June 11 : As many as 85 Afghan nationals have been arrested by security forces in the border district of Chagai district for allegedly crossing into Pakistan illegally, according to officials, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
The Afghan nationals were found on the Pakistani side near the border lacking legal travelling documents. The Afghan nationals entered Pakistan illegally to cross into Iran for further journeys, according to Dawn report.
A senior security official said the Afghan nationals were arrested and handed over to the Levies force for further probe. Levies Force officials said that Afghan nationals would be deported through the Baracha crossing gate on the Pakistan-Afghan border after the completion of legal formalities and procedures, Dawn reported.
Earlier in May, the Afghan migrants who have been forcibly deported from Pakistan and Iran have criticised the mistreatment by the authorities and called for international attention to their plight there, Afghanistan-based TOLO News reported.
The returnees, who have come from Iran, said that they were beaten by the Iranian government forces there while those in Pakistan expressed concern about the increasing challenges they face in that nation.
Basir, an Afghan returnee, who spent nearly two years in Iran and was recently deported with his three children, said: "When they wanted to search us, I resisted and they beat me. Now, I don't know if my ribs are broken or what has happened to me, I can't even lift two kilograms," reported TOLOnews.
Salahuddin, another deportee from Iran, said: "We went to Iran out of necessity to provide for our children, and they made it very hard for us," according to Dawn report.
On the other hand, lamenting about the situation, Reza Sazesh, an Afghan migrant in Pakistan, said: "Even those who had cards were deported from Quetta and Islamabad, Pakistan, and we are worried about this process."
However, the Taliban-appointed consul in Karachi, Pakistan, urged the Taliban to provide Afghan migrants with additional time to return, TOLO News reported.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has characterised the state of human rights, particularly the rights of women and girls as well as religious and ethnic minorities in Afghanistan, as grave, citing the urgent need for humanitarian aid for 23.7 million people to survive.
According to the report, Iran and Pakistan host around 7.7 million Afghan citizens, approximately 1.6 million of whom have been deported to Afghanistan since 2021.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International and some human rights organisations have expressed concern about the continuation of the process of expelling Afghan migrants from Pakistan and demanded a halt to this trend.
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