April 18, 2025
By Hazrat Ali
CHAMAN
Khan Muhammad never imagined his life would unravel so quickly.
For 40 years, he and his family called Karachi’s Machar Colony, home—a crowded but familiar slum where they built their lives, raised their children, and forged hundreds of connections. But now, clutching a few bundled possessions, he stands at the Chaman Holding Camp near the Pak-Afghan border, surrounded by 40 relatives, all awaiting forced repatriation to a country many have never seen.
“Our roots have been cut off,” says Muhammad, his voice hollow with exhaustion. “Our children have lost their schools, our homes are gone, and everything we knew ended in a single day. For us, Afghanistan is just a name — we don’t know what awaits us there.”
His story echoes across the camp at the Chaman border in Balochistan, where hundreds of Afghan refugees arrive daily, expelled from cities and towns where they’ve lived for decades. The Pakistani government’s “Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan” (IFRP), resumed on March 7, 2025, gave ACC card holders and undocumented Afghans until March 31 to leave voluntarily or face deportation. Since the deadline lapsed, a grim procession has begun—families torn from communities, livelihoods abandoned, and futures thrown into limbo.
Crackdown and chaos
In Balochistan’s interior, a police and an officer of the Levies checkpoints around the clock, demanding identity papers and issuing blunt warnings: Pack up and go. For many, like the refugees Voicepk spoke to, the order came with crushing suddenness.
“We sold everything—furniture, shops, even our pots—at throwaway prices,” said one elderly woman, cradling a feverish child. “Four decades erased in a month. What choice did we have?”
The Chaman Holding Camp, near the Baab-e-Dosti border crossing, has become a purgatory for the displaced. A single, overburdened medical tent operates on dwindling supplies. Dr. Muhammad Akbar, the camp’s sole physician, warned of a looming crisis.
“Most cases are diarrhea, especially among children and the elderly. We have two days of medicine left. If aid doesn’t arrive, this will become a tragedy,” he tells Voicepk.net.
A surge in arrests and suffering
According to an April 17 UNHCR report, 84,800 Afghans have returned since April 1—19,600 forcibly deported. Of these, 73% were undocumented, 26% Afghan Citizen Card holders, and just 1% held Proof of Registration (PoR) cards. The numbers reveal a stark reality: Pakistan’s sweep is netting not just the stateless but also those with legal claims to stay.
Arrests have skyrocketed, with 12,948 detentions in April 2025 alone—surpassing all of 2024. Punjab province leads the crackdown, followed by Balochistan. Refugees report harassment, extortion, and prolonged detention at checkpoints, with 98% of detainees being ACC holders or undocumented.
Protests mount against deportations
The crackdown has drawn fierce backlash from rights groups and local leaders. Sadiq Achakzai, spokesperson for the protest sit-in at the Chaman border—ongoing for 18 months against restrictive travel policies—spared no words in his condemnation.
“This is not enforcement; it is cruelty,” Achakzai says, his voice sharp with anger. “Tearing families from their homes after 40 years, dumping them at the border like criminals—it’s an inhumane act that history will judge.”
“Nationalist parties have already signaled plans for mass protests. If this continues, the state will face a movement it cannot ignore,” says Achakzai warning of escalating resistance against Afghan deportation.
A future in fragments
At the border, families clutch tattered ACC cards—once a lifeline, now worthless. Many refugees Voicepk interviewed had fled Afghanistan’s conflicts as children; Pakistan was all they knew.
As trucks rumble toward the border, the question hangs heavy: For those stripped of home, identity, and hope—what awaits on the other side?