The government has repatriated many nationals stranded in different countries due to coronavirus pandemic but left hundreds of Pakistanis in Afghanistan.
Reports suggest that nearly 450 Pakistanis nationals are presently stranded on the Afghan side of the border and are demanding of the government to allow them cross the Torkham border point.
BBC Pashto quoted a Pakistani national Yousaf Baheer as saying that hundreds of Pakistanis have been stuck only at Torkham for a month but Pakistani and Afghan officials are not allowing them to enter the country.
Drivers and businessmen are among the stranded Pakistanis. Some of the stranded Pakistani accused the Afghan officials of mistreatment. “We do not have any place to sleep and the people sleep in shops and outside shops,” Baheer said. In a video a Pakistani national said that about 800 Pakistani drivers and cleaners are stranded at the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak and Pakistani officials are not allowing them to cross the border. “The war-ravaged Afghanistan has repatriated its 4000 nationals from Pakistan but our PTI government is too weak that it cannot bring back its 800 drivers and cleaners,” a man in the video said.
“The PTI government brought rich people by planes from other countries but we are poor and that is why we were forced to spend day and night on road,” he said.
Sources in Khyber tribal district said on Thursday Pakistani and Afghan officials on Thursday met to plan repatriation of Pakistanis from Afghanistan. They said stranded Pakistanis are expected to be allowed to return on Saturday. They told the local journalists that over 200 Afghan members of Tablighi Jamaat will also be allowed to go home. Pakistan this month allowed thousands of Afghan nationals to return home via Torkham. Besides, the government has also decided to allow Officials say Pakistan has repatriated hundreds of its nationals stranded in several country due to halt of flight operations in special flights in recent weeks. The foreign office said last week that 772 nationals were repatriated from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Iraq through special flights operated by the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines. Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said plans for repatriation of Pakistani nationals from other destinations are also under active consideration. She said a comprehensive phase wise plan for repatriation of Pakistani nationals has been developed in collaboration with all stakeholders.
