Islamabad, Nov 2 (PTI) At least 165,000 Afghans living in Pakistan without valid documents have left the country since the government ordered all illegal foreigners to leave or face forcible expulsion, it emerged on Thursday.

The government earlier last month set November 1 as the deadline for the immigrants living illegally to leave voluntarily and many Afghans started going back to their homeland after the announcement.

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According to officials, so far 165,000 Afghans have left Pakistan while many were waiting at a special centre set up on the border to leave Pakistan.

The majority of them were using the Torkham border at the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa while a good number were also going to Afghanistan from the Chaman border crossing in Balochistan.

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About 4 million Afghans have been living in Pakistan for decades and came fleeing a series of violent conflicts, including about 600,000 who entered after the Taliban government seized power in August 2021.

Separately, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Baloch said that the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan for individuals currently in Pakistan in violation of our immigration laws, came into effect on Wednesday, which applies to individuals who have overstayed their visas or do not possess valid documents for their continued stay in Pakistan.

She said last month, the Government of Pakistan announced a one-month grace period for individuals in such cases to leave Pakistan voluntarily.

"As a result, thousands have left voluntarily for their home countries. This process will continue in an orderly and phased manner,” she said, adding that the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP) applies to all foreigners residing illegally in Pakistan, irrespective of their nationality and country of origin.

The decision is an exercise of Pakistan's sovereign domestic laws, and compliant with applicable international norms and principles but it does not apply to individuals who enjoy refugee status and will continue to be generously hosted by Pakistan Baloch said.

The decision to expel the illegal foreigners was taken after a spate of terrorism this year, out of which 14 were suicide bombings. In several cases, Afghan nationals were found involved in those attacks.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)