KARACHI / ISLAMABAD: Khadim Hussain Rind, the Additional Inspector General (AIG) of Karachi Police, has disclosed that Afghan citizens are actively participating in street crimes within Karachi.
AIG Khadim Hussain Rind disclosed that Afghan citizens have been actively involved in various street crimes in Karachi, some of which have resulted in fatalities. He reported that law enforcement has apprehended 225 Afghan individuals connected to street crimes in recent times, with some currently incarcerated facing criminal charges.
Highlighting the accomplishments of the Karachi Police under his leadership, the AIG emphasized that the newly assembled team has delivered noteworthy outcomes. In the past month alone, they recorded 20 criminals killed in shootouts, 130 injured, and an additional 600 arrested.
Addressing the issue of illegal Afghan residents, Rind disclosed that more than 400,000 unauthorized Afghans are residing in Karachi. In the past month, 1,547 of them were repatriated to Afghanistan, a substantial increase from the 323 deportations in the previous year.
Karachi’s Deportation Operation and Afghan Terrorism Links
Regarding preparations for the expulsion of undocumented foreigners, the AIG noted that Karachi Police, in collaboration with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), is gearing up for a comprehensive one-stop operation targeting foreign nationals, particularly Afghans, who are residing in Karachi without proper documentation. Data of arrested Afghan citizens from various areas of the city will be cross-checked and verified through the Nadra database, FIA, and immigration records, and those found to be illegally residing in the country will be deported, rather than being incarcerated.
This initiative follows the recent announcement by the caretaker government of a November 1 deadline for undocumented “aliens” to voluntarily depart the country, a decision made in response to a deadly suicide bombing in Balochistan’s Mastung, with Afghan nationals or Afghan soil allegedly implicated in several recent terrorist incidents in Pakistan.
Moreover, the caretaker interior minister disclosed that Afghan nationals were responsible for 14 out of the 24 suicide bombings that occurred in the country this year.
In a related development, the Sindh Home Department has established committees at the province, division, and district levels to oversee the expulsion of unauthorized foreigners living in the province. These committees, featuring representatives from intelligence agencies, including Inter-Services Intelligence (IS), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Military Intelligence (MI), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Sindh’s Commissioner for Afghan refugees, and Nadra, will collect data on unregistered refugees residing in the province. They are tasked with not only taking measures to repatriate them but also preventing their further entry into the province.
