Home department says 2.8 million Afghans have left Pakistan under the repatriation drive; Punjab’s numbers have slowed to a trickle, with 153 people in 39 holding centres, after more than 400,000 search operations.
LAHORE: Punjab has sent back 143,474 Afghans living in the province without valid documents and registered cases against 803 people for renting property to them, the provincial home department said, as Pakistan’s three-year repatriation drive passes 2.8 million returns nationwide.
A total of 2,807,250 Afghan nationals have returned from Pakistan under the campaign, the department said. Its Foreign Nationals Security Wing has carried out more than 400,000 search operations in residential areas and markets across Punjab.
Under government policy, any Afghan citizen in Pakistan without an acceptable visa is considered to be living in the country illegally. Those detained are moved to holding centres, where they are given temporary accommodation and registered, and are then handed to Afghan authorities at the Torkham border once legal formalities are completed.
Punjab currently has 39 holding centres, holding 153 Afghans between them, an average of about four people per centre.
The department said the figures reflected the provincial government’s strategy, and appealed to the public to support what it called the national mission. Residents are asked to report illegal stays, forged identity documents or suspicious activity to the emergency helpline 15, with informants’ identities kept confidential.
Punjab slowing pace
The provincial figures suggest the campaign in Punjab has largely run its course. In August, the province had deported 140,468 Afghans, meaning only about 3,000 more have been sent back in roughly three months.
Nationally, returns continue at a steadier pace. A joint update by the International Organization for Migration and the UN refugee agency UNHCR counted about 2.74 million Afghans returning from Pakistan between September 2023 and Oct. 17, 2026, including 3,883 in the week to Oct. 17, Dawn reported. Of those returning since April 2025, 13pc had been deported; the rest left without a formal deportation order, most citing fear of arrest.
The 803 cases against property owners show the campaign reaching beyond Afghans themselves to the Pakistanis who house them. Renting to foreigners without proper documentation and police registration is an offence, and landlords in Lahore and other cities have been warned to verify tenants’ status.
National security, and its costs
Pakistani officials say the drive is driven by security concerns, after militant attacks that the government and religious leaders have linked to networks based in Afghanistan. Pakistan has hosted Afghan refugees for more than four decades, at times numbering in the millions, and says it can no longer bear the burden without international support.
UN agencies and rights groups have urged Pakistan to protect vulnerable people, including women, rights activists and Afghans awaiting resettlement in Western countries, from forced return to Taliban rule. The repatriation has also reached classrooms: the Lahore High Court barred medical colleges from expelling Afghan students after the medical regulator ordered them home.
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