Pakistani officials say Pakistan has set up a new system to prevent Afghans from traveling illegally, allowing Afghans to travel to Pakistan without a visa.
Travel to Afghanistan has long been restricted, and during Afghanistan’s previous republican rule, Pakistan repeatedly barred Afghans from traveling without passports or visas.
Many Afghans who went to Pakistan for medical treatment and to visit relatives, some did not have passports and were allowed to travel on national identity cards, but this has been stopped by a new Pakistani decision.
This is despite the fact that most Afghans wait a long time to obtain a Pakistani visa. In recent years, the number of visitors to the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad has increased so much that several people have died in the crowd and the consulate has been closed for some time.
According to Dewa Radio, the implementation of the visa regime has been handed over to Pakistan’s internal intelligence agency.
Shafqat Khan, an official with the agency, told VOA that the new approach would prevent balanced migration without passports, and that Afghans who have gone to Pakistan for medical treatment without passports and visas will be able to do so. Treatment is then sent back to [Afghanistan] under this system.
According to Shafqat Khan, after the implementation of this procedure, those Afghans who have proof of registration and Afghan identity card and want to return to their country will be deported according to the same procedure.
The Pakistani intelligence official added that Afghans who came to Pakistan through Spin Boldak and went to Afghanistan via Torkham would be repatriated in the same manner and would re-enter the travel documents in the future. Can’t
Under the new system in Torkham, a center called Nadra, which verified suspicious Pakistani and Afghan documents and closed the day, also issued travel permits to day laborers on both sides of the border. The closure of the office cut off work for day laborers, leaving thousands jobless and facing financial difficulties.
Farman Shinwari, a food representative, told Diwa Radio that they were first affected by the Corona epidemic and now the new system has exacerbated the problem by allowing visa-free travel to both sides of the border. Not paid.
According to Farman Shinwari, at least 8,000 people, more than half of them Afghans, currently have small and large employment contracts on both sides of the Torkham border. Get.
After the fall of the Taliban, Afghans’ travel to Pakistan has become more difficult and visas have become more difficult. The Pakistani authorities have also closed their doors several times.
