Over 100,000 Afghans left Pak in last 3 weeks: Ministry

Afghanistan has slammed the unilateral measures’ taken by its neighbour and has urged Pakistan to facilitate the dignified return of Afghan refugees’

- 

More than 100,000 Afghans have left Pakistan in the past three weeks, the interior ministry said on Tuesday, after Islamabad announced the widespread cancellation of residence permits.

Calling Afghans “terrorists and criminals”, the Pakistan government launched its mass eviction campaign on April I.

Analysts say the expulsions are designed to pressure neighbouring Afghanistan's Taliban authorities, which Islamabad blames for fuelling a rise in border attacks.

The interior ministry told reporters that “100,529 Afghans have left in April”.

Convoys of Afghan families have been heading to the border since the start of April when the deadline to leave expired, crossing into a country mired in a humanitarian crisis.

“I was born in Pakistan and have never been to Afghanistan,” 27-year-old Allah Rahman told reporters at the Torkham border on Saturday.

“I was afraid the police might humiliate me and my family. Now we're heading back to Afghanistan out of sheer helplessness.”

Afghanistan's prime minister Hasan Akhund on Saturday condemned the “unilateral measures” taken by its neighbour after Pakistan's foreign minister Ishaq Dar flew to Kabul for a day-long visit to discuss the returns.