The UN's high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, has commended Pakistan for suspending its forced deportation of undocumented Afghan migrants and called for increased efforts toward long-term solutions for Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said.
Grandi expressed appreciation that the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan had been suspended and sought assurances that it would "remain on hold," the UNHCR said in a statement on July 9.
Islamabad suspended the deportation of Afghan refugees following talks between Grandi and top Pakistani officials during the former's three-day visit to Pakistan.
Grandi met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, and Minister for States and Frontier Regions Amir Muqam, along with senior officials from the ministries of the interior and foreign affairs.
The commissioner called for a permanent solution to the problem of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the statement said, adding that he also called for "the timely extension of the Proof of Registration (PoR) cards."
PoR cards are a crucial identity document for the more than 1.3 million legal Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
The number of undocumented Afghans who sought refuge in neighboring Pakistan rose steeply following the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan in August 2022 following the departure of the U.S.-led international forces.
There is no accurate figure for the total number of Afghans in Pakistan, but UN estimates put the number in October last year at nearly 3.7 million. Pakistani authorities, however, put the number at 4.4 million.
Last year, Pakistan's interim government decided to deport 1.7 million undocumented Afghan refugees from the country and send them back to Afghanistan.
Since the decision in November last year, an estimated 500,000 Afghan refugees have been returned to Afghanistan.
“We need to seize this opportunity to accelerate solutions and have a bigger, broader vision for the Afghan people in Pakistan,” Grandi was quoted as saying in the statement.