Over 10,000 Afghan migrants raced to the border on Tuesday, the last day of a deadline for 1.7 million Afghans to leave Pakistan voluntarily or be arrested and deported.
The government has said it would begin arresting undocumented Afghans and taking them to new holding communities from Wednesday, from where they will be handled and forcibly returned to Afghanistan.
The Taliban government in Kabul says the policy contributes to “harassment”.
“Thousands of Afghan refugees are waiting for their turn in vehicles, lorries, and trucks, and the number continues to grow,” Irshad Mohmand, a senior government official at the Torkham border spoke to AFP.
“More than 10,000 refugees have gathered since morning.”
More than 100,000 Afghan migrants have fled Pakistan since the beginning of October when the government declared that 1.7 million Afghans it says are living illegally in Pakistan have a one-month deadline to leave.
“To avoid any humiliation by the Pakistani authorities I have decided to leave,” Zulfiqar Khan, who was born to displaced person parents in a sprawling Peshawar aid camp, told AFP last week.
More than 80% have left via the northern Torkham border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the majority of Afghan migrants live.
Police in the province said they have not yet started arrests as families leave voluntarily, yet Afghan refugees in Karachi and Islamabad have reported arrests, harassment and extortion.
Lawyers and activists have said the size of the crackdown is remarkable, appealing for more time for Afghans some of whom have lived for a long time in the nation to be given more time to get together with dignity.
“The Pakistani government is using threats, abuse, and detention to coerce Afghan asylum seekers without legal status to return to Afghanistan or face deportation,” Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
“The situation in Afghanistan remains dangerous for many who fled, and deportation will expose them to significant security risks, including threats to their lives and well-being.”
Millions of Afghans have crossed the border during many years of conflict, making Pakistan the host of one of the world’s biggest displaced person populations.
A huge number of Afghans are estimated to have fled to Pakistan since the Taliban government took control in August 2021.
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Pakistan has said the deportations are to safeguard the “welfare and security” of the nation, where anti-Afghan sentiment has been growing amid delayed economic hardship and a rise in cross-border militancy.