Islamabad, March 27 (IANS) Pakistan has resumed deportation of undocumented Afghan refugees through the Torkham border after the border was reopened for one-way pedestrian movement after its month-long closure due to clashes between Kabul and Islamabad, local media reported on Friday.

In recent weeks, tensions have escalated between Afghanistan and Pakistan due to airstrikes, artillery fire, and accusations from both sides.

Officials at a temporary transit point set up near the Hamza Baba mausoleum in Landi Kotal said that 50 Afghans who were kept in different prisons for residing in Pakistan without documents were taken to the transit point and later repatriated to Afghanistan after a clearance process on Thursday, Pakistan's leading daily Dawn reported. The police and intelligence agencies, Nat­­ional Database and Regist­ration Authority (Nadra) and immigration departments were involved in the clearance process.

The authorities released the schedule of the deportation and repatriation at the Torkham border before the deportation process started at 9:30 am (local time) on Thursday. Government departments, including the National Logistics Cor­por­at­ion (NLC), Federal Inv­es­tigation Agency (FIA), Cus­toms, and Nadra were ordered to activate their computerised systems and brief about ‘ready status’ to the security officials at the border in advance.

Furthermore, authorities imposed curfew at Torkham and the movement of people was restricted around the terminal, Bacha Maina, Machni, and the nearby areas.

On March 15, over 300 illegal Afghan refugees have been detained by police during raids carried out in various parts of Swabi district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A crackdown was launched after the district administration and police officials' decision to deport illegal Afghans, daily Dawn reported, citing sources. The police had ordered Station House Officers (SHOs) to keep data of all illegal Afghans in the jurisdictions of their police stations.

According to sources, 341 Afghan refugees were arrested during raids conducted in Topi, Razaar, Chota Lahor tehsils and other parts of Swabi on March 15. They mentioned that the raids will continue and all Afghan refugees, who are illegally residing in Swabi, will be detained and deported to Afghanistan.

Around 30,000 Afghan refugees still live in various parts of Swabi, with most of them having proper documentation, while others stay illegally. The sources revealed that these Afghan refugees were residing in Gandaf Refugees Camp and Gohati Refugees Camp, and a large number of them were staying in various farming fields and cities.

--IANS

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