Over 200 Afghan PoR card holders return home as Pakistan sets September deportation deadline
Over 200 Afghan PoR card holders return home as Pakistan sets September deportation deadline/node/2610818/pakistan
Over 200 Afghan PoR card holders return home as Pakistan sets September deportation deadline
An Afghan national displays his Afghan Citizen Card, that was issued to him by the government of Pakistan, as he speaks to the members of the media while being detained and shift to a temporary holding centre, after Pakistan gave the last warning to undocumented migrants to leave, in Karachi, Pakistan, on November 2, 2023. (REUTERS)
PESHAWAR: More than 200 Afghan refugees holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards have returned to Afghanistan via Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, authorities said on Tuesday, after Pakistan’s federal government renewed its call for Afghans to leave the country and set a September 1 deadline for deporting PoR cardholders.
The ongoing expulsion drive began in 2023, the same year Pakistan witnessed a surge in militant violence, including suicide attacks that officials linked, without offering direct evidence, to Afghan nationals.
Authorities initially targeted undocumented migrants, most of them Afghans, followed by those holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC). In June this year, Pakistan declined to renew PoR cards, rendering 1.4 million previously documented refugees illegal under national law.
PoR cards were issued by Pakistan to Afghans who were registered in collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and recognized the holder as a legal refugee in Pakistan. ACC cards, on the other hand, were issued to unregistered Afghans living in Pakistan, acknowledging them as Afghan nationals but without granting refugee status.
“213 PoR card holders have returned to Afghanistan through the Torkham border, along with 273 ACC holders and 1,070 undocumented Afghan nationals,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Home and Tribal Affairs Department said in a statement.
It added that one additional PoR card holder also crossed into Afghanistan via Angoor Ada, bringing the total to 214.
Pakistan said on Monday it would begin formal deportations of PoR card holders starting September 1, while voluntary returns would begin immediately.
“Afghan nationals holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards shall be repatriated to Afghanistan as part of the ongoing implementation of the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP),” the interior ministry said in a notification.
“It has been decided that the voluntary return of PoR card holders shall commence forthwith, while the formal repatriation and deportation process will take effect from 1st September 2025,” it added.
Islamabad aims to deport around 3 million Afghans, including 1.4 million PoR card holders and some 800,000 ACC holders. More than a million Afghans have already left Pakistan since the crackdown began in 2023, according to the UN refugee agency.
Pakistan has long argued that some Afghan refugees are involved in militancy and crime, though the mass expulsions are widely viewed as an attempt to pressure Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to curb cross-border insurgents, particularly those targeting Pakistani forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
UNHCR has urged Pakistan to halt forced deportations and ensure that any returns are voluntary, gradual and dignified.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday described the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as an extreme case of politically driven starvation, citing media and aid reports that people were not dying from a lack of food but because access to it was deliberately blocked.
In recent weeks, Gaza has faced a worsening humanitarian emergency. Israel’s blockade, imposed since early March, has severely restricted access to food, water and medical supplies. Aid agencies and the United Nations have warned of mass starvation and rising child malnutrition in the enclave, home to around two million people. Only a few humanitarian trucks have been allowed in.
“At least 175 Palestinians, including 93 children, have died of starvation,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad told a UN Security Council briefing. “The Director-General of the FAO has warned ‘Gaza is now on the brink of a full-scale famine. People are not starving because food is unavailable, they are starving because access is denied.’”
He noted that even the delivery of humanitarian aid had become deadly for Palestinians.
“Over 1,200 aid-related killings have been documented since May,” he added. “Palestinians are routinely forced to choose between two deadly options: risking death by starvation, or risking death by gunfire to reach food aid sites.’ That is what The New York Times is saying.”
Citing Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, Ahmad said Gaza represented “the most extreme example of politically driven starvation in the 21st century,” echoing earlier warnings from UNICEF, the UN Secretary-General, and the World Food Programme that described the situation as a “perfect storm of suffering” and a “disaster unfolding before our eyes.”
The Pakistani envoy called for an “immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire,” alongside full Israeli withdrawal, the release of hostages from the Hamas captivity and unrestricted humanitarian access to the Palestinian enclave.
“This war on civilians must end,” he said.
“Human rights are universal and indivisible,” he added. “Human rights cannot be partitioned, and justice must never be selective. The imperative, legal, political and moral, is crystal clear: we must act now to end Israel’s brutal and illegal war and the unconscionable suffering of the Palestinian people. Humanity and dignity of people, civilians on both sides, demand nothing less.”
Ahmad also warned that lasting peace would remain elusive without addressing the root cause of the crisis, which he identified as Israel’s prolonged occupation of Palestinian territories, and called for the implementation of a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
Pakistani musicians use folk songs and rap to raise climate change awareness
Sham Bhai has toured a dozen villages in Sindh teaching people about climate adaptation and resilience through song
Music is a useful medium for sharing information in places like rural Sindh where literacy is low and Internet access is scarce
Updated 06 August 2025
AP
UMERKOT, Pakistan: Villagers hush when Pakistani folk musician Sham Bhai starts singing about climate change, her clear voice rising above the simple squat dwellings.
“We are the people of the south. The winds seem to be blowing from the north. The winds seem cold and warm. My heart is burned from seeing the collapsed houses in the rain. Oh, beloved, come home soon.”
Sham is from Sindh, the Pakistani province worst-hit three years ago by climate-worsened deluges that affected tens of millions of people nationwide and washed away homes, farmland and infrastructure.
She has toured a dozen villages in Sindh during the past two years, teaching people about climate adaptation and resilience through song, a useful medium for sharing information in places where literacy is low and Internet is scarce.
“When we give a message through song, it is easy to communicate to people because they understand it,” the 18-year-old singer told The Associated Press. She was performing in Umerkot district, singing in her native tongue and official provincial language, Sindhi, which is more likely to be spoken and understood in places like Umerkot than the official and national language of Pakistan, Urdu.
Women dance during a performance of a Pakistani folk musician Sham Bhai at a village in Umerkot, a district of Pakistan's southeastern Sindh province on July 17, 2025. (AP/File)
Sindh recorded more than 1,000 rain-related deaths in a few months in 2022. The damage remains visible. Broken roads and flattened houses that residents never rebuilt. Floods submerged swathes of Sham’s district, Tando Allahyar. News footage showed people wading through waist-deep water.
“The meaning of the song is that poor people’s homes built on mud are not strong,” Sham explains. “Women and children face hardship during the rains because they are vulnerable in the absence of men who go away to work. The women of the house call on their men to return because the weather is so bad.”
Poverty and illiteracy deepen people’s vulnerability.
Alternating patches of parched and lush farmland flank the road to Umerkot. Dry and wet spells buffet the province, and local farmers have to adapt. They now focus on winter crops rather than summer ones because the rain is more predictable in the colder months.
Villagers watch a performance of a Pakistani folk musician Sham Bhai at a village in Umerkot, a district of Pakistan's southeastern Sindh province on July 17, 2025. (AP/File)
“The monsoon season used to come on time, but now it starts late,” farmer Ghulam Mustafa Mahar said. “Sometimes there is no rain. All patterns are off-course due to climate change for the last five years.”
He and others have switched from crops to livestock to survive.
There is little infrastructure away from the center of the district. Children get excited seeing sedans crunch through the dust.
The area is mostly poor and very hot.
Sindh’s literacy rate falls to 38 percent in rural areas. Sham said singing informs those who can’t learn about climate change because they can’t read.
Mindful of their audience, the three singers warm people up with popular tunes to catch their attention before launching into mournful tunes about the wind and rain, their lyrics inspired by writers and poets from Sindh.
“People are acting on our advice; they are planting trees and making their houses strong to face climate change,” said Sham.
“Women and children suffer a lot during bad conditions, which damage their homes.”
Women and girls of all ages can be seen working outdoors in Sindh, tending to crops or livestock. They gather food and water, along with wood for fuel. They are predominantly restricted to this type of work and other domestic chores because of gender norms and inequalities. When extreme weather strikes, they are often the first to suffer. One villager said when heavy rain battered homes in 2022, it crushed and killed whoever was inside, including children.
Pakistani folk musician Sham Bhai, center, arrives with her team members for her performance at a village in Umerkot, a district of Pakistan's southeastern Sindh province on July 17, 2025. (AP/File)
One woman is rapping for climate justice
People in rural areas have no idea what climate change is, said Urooj Fatima, an activist from the city of Jhuddo. Her stage name is Sindhi Chhokri, and she is known locally for campaigning on issues such as women’s rights.
But she has turned her attention to raising awareness about climate change since flooding devastated her village in 2022 and again in 2024.
“We can engage a lot of audiences through rap. If we go to a village and gather a community, there are a maximum of 50. But everyone listens to songs. Through rap, we can reach out to hundreds of thousands of people through our voice and our message.”
She said hip-hop isn’t common in Pakistan, but the genre resonates because of its tradition as an expression of life, hardship and struggle.
She has yet to finish her latest climate change rap, but wrote one in response to the 2022 flooding in neighboring Balochistan, the country’s poorest and least developed province, because she felt it wasn’t getting enough attention. She performed it at festivals in Pakistan and promoted it across her social media accounts. Officials at the time said more help was needed from the central government for people to rebuild their lives.
“There are potholes on the road; the roads are ruined,” raps Urooj. “I am telling the truth. Will your anger rain down on me? Where was the Balochistan government when the floods came? My pen thirsts for justice. Now they’ve succeeded, these thieving rulers. This isn’t a rap song, this is a revolution.”
She and her sister Khanzadi campaign on the ground and social media, protesting, visiting villages, and planting thousands of trees. She wants the Sindh government to take climate change awareness seriously by providing information and education to those who need it the most, people living in rural areas.
“This happens every year,” said Urooj, referring to the floods. “Climate change affects a person’s whole life. Their whole life becomes a disaster.”
She cites the disproportionate and specific impact of climate change on women and girls, the problems they experience with displacement, education, hygiene, and nutrition, attributing these to entrenched gender discrimination.
“For women, there are no opportunities or facilities. And then, if a flood comes from above, they face more difficulties.”
She elicits controversy in rural areas. Half the feedback she receives is negative. She is undeterred from speaking out on social taboos and injustice.
“Rap is a powerful platform. If our rap reaches just a few people, then this is a very good achievement. We will not let our voices be suppressed. We will always raise our voices high.”
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani exporters and manufacturers are set to expand their global footprint through “Pakistan Mart” in Dubai, Pakistani state media reported, with the initiative aimed at granting Pakistani products direct access to “high-demand” markets.
The “Pakistan Mart” is a joint venture between the Pakistan’s National Logistics Corporation (NLC) and the UAE’s DP World logistics management company to establish a dedicated trade hub in Dubai.
The development followed the visit of a high-level delegation representing the NLC and DP World to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency reported.
The delegation was led by Brig. Mohammad Yousaf, Director Plans at NLC, along with Abdullah Yaqoob Al-Sayed Ahmad Al-Hashmi, Head of Traders Markets at DP World, Fakhre Alam, Vice Chairman of DP World, and Junaid Tariq, Director Business at NLC.
“The facility in Dubai will provide state-of-the-art logistics, warehousing, and retail infrastructure to facilitate direct access for Pakistani manufacturers and exporters to high-demand markets across the Middle East, Africa, and South America,” Brig. Yousaf was quoted as saying at a session outlining the scope of Pakistan Mart.
Pakistani exporters often participate in major trade exhibitions in Dubai to showcase products ranging from textiles to food and pharmaceuticals. These events offer direct access to global buyers, enhance brand visibility and support Pakistan’s efforts to expand its export footprint in the Gulf and beyond.
On the occasion, DP World Head of Traders Markets Al-Hashmi described Pakistan Mart as a “gateway to global trade,” designed to facilitate business through integrated warehousing, logistics and exhibition spaces.
The UAE is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States, and a major source of remittances and foreign investment. Policymakers in Pakistan consider the Emirates an optimal export destination due to their geographical proximity, which minimizes transportation and freight costs while facilitating commercial transactions.
Pakistan’s exports reached approximately $26.9 billion between July 2024 and April 2025, reflecting a 6.4 percent increase compared to the same period in the previous year, according to the Pakistan Business Council (PBC). Leading export sectors included textiles, food products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and leather goods.
ICCI Senior Vice President Abdul Rehman Siddiqui termed the project a “milestone” on Pakistan’s logistics and export landscape, according to the APP report.
“The synergy between NLC’s regional capabilities and DP World’s global network would provide immense opportunities for Pakistani businesses,” he said.
PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposition party on Tuesday held coordinated rallies across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province to demand the release of jailed ex-premier Imran Khan but failed to mobilize masses in the capital Islamabad and other key regions, with more than 200 arrested for violating restrictions on public gatherings.
The rallies marked the second anniversary of Khan’s arrest and came amid a 90-day “do or die” protest campaign the party launched in mid-July. The PTI leadership has pledged peaceful but sustained mobilization against what it calls politically motivated cases against Khan and other party leaders.
Police arrested more than 240 opposition party activists at the protests calling for the release of Khan, security and police officials told Reuters. Most of the detentions were made on Monday night and early Tuesday in the eastern city of Lahore, where the PTI had promised its biggest demonstration.
KP, a province the PTI has ruled since 2018, saw widespread mobilization on Tuesday. District-level convoys converged on motorway interchanges and city centers across the province, but there was no clue of Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who was to supposed to lead the main gathering in Peshawar.
“At the call of their captain Imran Khan, the nation once again came out and proved that Imran will be there,” the PTI wrote on X on Tuesday evening.
Rallies were held in Swabi, Charsadda, Mardan, Nowshera, Mohmand, Battagram, Abbottabad, Upper Chitral, Shangla, Upper Dir, Mansehra and Kurram, among other areas.
“Free Imran Khan!” chanted supporters outside a Lahore courthouse, while smaller groups staged protests across the city, Reuters reported.
The federal capital of Islamabad and the nearby Rawalpindi city remained largely quiet, with heavy police deployments on main roads, while police fired teargas in the cities of Karachi and Muzaffarabad.
The protests followed a national call to action by PTI, which announced in July it would stage “do or die” demonstrations every week for 90 days to demand Khan’s release. The party’s leadership claims he is facing over 170 cases, including charges of corruption, sedition and terrorism, which they allege are part of a military-backed crackdown to keep him out of politics. The government and army deny the charges of political persecution.
The PTI ruled Pakistan from 2018 until 2022, when Khan was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote. He was arrested in May 2023 and again in August 2023, and is currently imprisoned at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where he is serving sentences in multiple cases. He has also been disqualified from holding public office by Pakistan’s election commission.
The PTI has staged several protests in recent years to secure Khan’s release and demand an audit of the February 2024 general election, with a number of demonstrations resulting in clashes with law enforcers and in some cases paralyzing the capital Islamabad for days.
Pakistan’s election authorities deny the allegation of election irregularities, while the federal and Punjab governments have repeatedly warned in recent weeks that they would not tolerate any form of violence, accusing the PTI of trying to derail efforts for sustainable economic growth.
Khan’s party had always created “chaos,” Uzma Bukhari, a spokesperson of the Punjab provincial government, told a press conference on Monday.
“No political party can be barred from politics in Pakistan, but a terrorist organization disguised as a political party is not allowed to disrupt Pakistan’s peace.”
KARACHI: Pakistan has confirmed 19th polio case of this year after a 5-month-old child tested positive for the virus in the northwestern Lakki Marwat district, the country’s polio program said on Tuesday.
The latest infection marks the 12th polio case in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, which has long been identified as a high-risk zone for poliovirus transmission due to insecurity, vaccine hesitancy and operational challenges.
Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) for every child under five during each campaign, along with the timely completion of all essential immunizations.
“The continued detection of polio cases highlights the ongoing threat to children, especially in areas with low vaccine acceptance,” the polio program said. “It is crucial for communities to understand that repeated vaccination is essential to protect every child against poliovirus.”
Despite significant improvements in the quality of polio vaccination campaigns nationwide, the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remain a key area of concern due to restricted access, lack of female vaccinators and operational challenges in conducting house-to-house vaccination, according to the polio program.
“These barriers continue to hinder immunization efforts in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, leaving thousands of children unvaccinated,” it said. “Multiple doses are needed to build and maintain immunity. Every unvaccinated child remains at risk and may contribute to further transmission of the virus.”
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic. Islamabad made significant progress in curbing the virus, with annual cases dropping from around 20,000 in the early 1990s to just eight in 2018. Pakistan reported six cases in 2023 and only one in 2021, however, the country witnessed an intense resurgence of the poliovirus in 2024, with 74 cases reported.
Efforts to eradicate the virus have been repeatedly undermined by vaccine misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners who claim that immunization is a foreign plot to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western espionage. Militant groups have frequently targeted polio vaccination teams and the security personnel assigned to protect them, particularly in KP and Balochistan.
Health authorities will begin their next polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan on September 1, with a special focus on high-risk and priority areas including southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Parents and caregivers are strongly encouraged to ensure their children receive polio drops during this important campaign to help protect them from lifelong paralysis,” the polio program said.
