Islamabad, Nov 14 (EFE).- Afghanistan’s acting trade minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi raised concerns about the possessions of the tens of thousands of undocumented Afghans forced to leave Pakistan, officials said Tuesday.
During a meeting with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, Azizi discussed how to transfer the properties of the undocumented Afghans to their country, the Afghan embassy in Pakistan said in a statement.
The Taliban minister arrived in Pakistan on Monday, heading a high-level delegation for a tripartite meeting between Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan, the embassy added.
Azizi’s visit comes after the expiry of the deadline on Nov. 1, given by the Pakistani government to all undocumented migrants to leave the country.
Undocumented Afghans migrants – about 1.7 million of them in Pakistan – have been the most affected by this measure, which led thousands of people to leave the country in a hurry.
Among other measures, Pakistan limited the maximum amount of cash per family that undocumented migrants could carry when crossing the border to 50,000 rupees (about $173).
Once the deadline to leave expired, the security forces began a wave of arrests and deportations that has culminated in the departure for now of 300,000 Afghans, Pakistan’s caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said before the Senate on Monday.
Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said his government’s decision was in response to the Afghan administration’s unwillingness to take action against the main Taliban group in the Asian country, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks on its soil since the Afghan Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021.
Islamabad alleges that TTP militants are using Afghan territory to launch attacks in Pakistan, but the Afghan Taliban denies these claims, instead blaming Pakistani authorities for failing to ensure security of their homeland. EFE
aa-hbc/sc
