Pakistan has expelled over 8,000 Afghan citizens in a single week as part of a new repatriation initiative, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

Islamabad had previously called on all Afghan nationals without proper documentation to return home voluntarily by March 31 or face deportation. At the same time, the Pakistani authorities announced they will be canceling some 800,000 Afghan Citizen Cards which they had issued and urged the Afghan card holders to leave as well.

Authorities have established refugee centers in several cities to accommodate Afghan nationals before they are transported to the Torkham border crossing in northwestern Pakistan.

"The situation has escalated, with police actively searching neighborhoods and streets in cities and villages for Afghan citizens, particularly in Sindh and Punjab provinces," Moniza Kakar, a lawyer working for refugees' advocacy in Pakistan, told DW.

Kakar said that midnight raids were common, often leading to families being separated.

Human rights activist Ezatullah Bakhshi is currently hiding from the Pakistani authorities. He told DW that he had already been arrested twice since arriving in Pakistan and registering as a refugee in July 2023.

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