Pakistan wants to expel all Afghan refugees from the country, says Afghan embassy

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan wants to remove all Afghan refugees from the country and their expulsion is imminent, the Afghan embassy in Islamabad warned Wednesday.

The embassy issued a strongly worded statement about Pakistan’s plans, saying Afghan nationals in the capital, Islamabad, and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi have been subjected to arrests, searches, and orders from the police to leave the twin cities and relocate to other parts of Pakistan.

“This process of detaining Afghans, which began without any formal announcement, has not been officially communicated to the Embassy of Afghanistan in Islamabad through any formal correspondence,” it added.

Besides hundreds of thousands of those living illegally in Pakistan, there are around 1.45 million Afghan nationals registered with UNHCR as refugees.