Abdul Jabbar Takhari, the Taliban’s Consul General in Karachi, says the visas of Afghan students in Pakistan’s Sindh province have expired, but that they have not yet encountered serious difficulties.
In a video message released on Wednesday, Takhari said Pakistani authorities have not yet begun the process of extending the students’ visas in Sindh. He warned, however, that Afghan students living in other Pakistani provinces face the risk of arrest and deportation because they no longer hold valid visas.
His remarks come after Pakistan’s Interior Ministry reportedly ordered the arrest of all Afghan nationals without valid visas beginning on July 10.
Sources familiar with the situation say Pakistani security forces have intensified the detention and deportation of Afghan migrants in recent years, including students and journalists. According to one source, several Afghan journalists and students without valid residency documents are currently being held in Islamabad.
Meanwhile, sources told Afghanistan International on Tuesday that Pakistani police arrested 13 Afghan doctors and one medical student in the city of Multan, Punjab Province, before transferring them to a deportation center.
According to those sources, the detainees had applied to renew their visas about a year ago but had yet to receive a response from Pakistani authorities.
The latest developments have heightened concerns among Afghan students, professionals and their families, with the legal status of thousands of Afghan nationals in Pakistan remaining uncertain as immigration enforcement continues to tighten.
