Pakistan's Ministry of Interior has directed the immediate arrest of any Afghan national found residing in the country without a valid visa, effective 10 July 2026. The order, issued to Chief Secretaries of all provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), marks a sharp escalation in Islamabad's crackdown on undocumented Afghan migrants.

What the Order Says

The ministry's notification, reported by Dawn, states that the directive flows from decisions taken at a review meeting on the Illegal Foreigners' Repatriation Plan (IFRP) held on 1 June 2026. During that meeting, all provincial governments, special area governments, and the ICT Administration were directed to 'expedite the repatriation/deportation of Afghan nationals, including visa overstay cases, and to ensure strict implementation of the IFRP.'

The order instructs that necessary directives be issued to all Deputy Commissioners, district administrations, police, and other law enforcement agencies to enforce the crackdown. A status report detailing the number of undocumented Afghans, action taken against them, and their present status is to be submitted by 11 July 2026.

Background: A Deportation Drive Years in the Making

This is not a new policy — it is an intensification of one. Pakistan launched its deportation drive in 2023, and renewed it in April 2025 when the government rescinded hundreds of thousands of residence permits for Afghans, warning of arrests for those who did not leave. The latest order sets a firm legal deadline, converting what was previously a warning into an enforceable mandate.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly 270,000 Afghans have been deported to Afghanistan since the beginning of 2026, primarily from Iran and Pakistan, with smaller numbers from Turkey and Tajikistan. This follows the deportation of over 1.2 million Afghan refugees from Iran and 150,000 from Pakistan in the previous year alone.

UN's Human Rights Warning

On 22 May 2026, Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned against the continued forced repatriation of Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers, calling it a violation of international human rights and refugee law. 'Afghan women, children and men continue to be pushed out of countries where they had sought safety, forcing them to return to Afghanistan against their will and exposing them to grave risk,' he said.

Turk specifically invoked the international law principle of non-refoulement — which prohibits returning individuals to countries where they face serious risk of harm. 'Returning individuals at serious risk of human rights violations involuntarily to Afghanistan runs contrary to the core international law principle of non-refoulement. I urge States to abide by their international legal obligations and protect Afghans by not taking any action that exposes them to irreparable harm upon return,' he said.

Who Is Most at Risk

The UN human rights agency has flagged that women and girls, individuals affiliated with the former Afghan government and its security forces, media workers, civil society members, and members of the LGBTIQ+ community remain at grave risk of reprisals and human rights abuses upon return to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Critics argue that mass deportation orders make no distinction between economic migrants and those with legitimate protection needs.

With the 10 July deadline now in force, attention will turn to whether Pakistan's law enforcement agencies execute the order uniformly — and how the international community responds to what the UN has characterised as a systematic violation of refugee law.