ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan intensifies its campaign to expel thousands of Afghan migrants, opinions in Islamabad remain divided, according to interviews with residents.
Earlier this year, Pakistan’s interior ministry asked all “illegal foreigners” and holders of Afghan Citizen Cards — a document launched in 2017 to grant temporary legal status to Afghan refugees — to leave the country before Mar. 31, warning that they would otherwise be deported from April 1. The move is part of a larger repatriation drive of foreign citizens that began in November 2023, with over 900,000 Afghans expelled from Pakistan since.
While 19-year-old student Rubab Iffat called the deportations “not right,” others like teacher Pervaiz Akhtar supported the government’s decision, saying Afghans were against Pakistan and were behind terror attacks in the country. The government in Kabul denies Afghanistan is to blame for Pakistan’s security problems. 
“Even on social media, they [Afghans] are against Pakistan ... They make their living here, but they are against us,” Akhtar said. 
“If you look overall, even locally, if you ask someone what Afghans say about us, they are against our country. Terrorism is also being carried out from there [Afghanistan] so it is justified that they leave. And they should go by all means, their country is Afghanistan.”
But Iffat said the government was not “doing the right thing” by expelling Afghans:
“Because they have been living here [Pakistan] for a long time and their home is here now, their children are studying here, so this is their country too. They should be given the same rights as us.”
Meanwhile, Afghanistan-bound trucks have been piling up outside Pakistan migrant camps as pressure to leave mounts.
In a migrant camp in the southwestern border town of Chaman, Afghan migrant Ismail prepared to return to his home country, leaving behind an “unfinished” life after a decade in Pakistan.
“I had a stable job, I had found stability,” he said, standing in front of rows of loaded trucks bound for Afghanistan. “Then the government told us we had to leave.”
Ghulam Hazrat said he had to leave behind his house and business and in the days leading up to leaving Karachi where he has lived for years, he had faced harassment from police.
“We were harassed every day. They didn’t even spare us on the streets and threw us straight into jail,” Hazrat added.
“Because of all this, we became very desperate and decided to leave Karachi [for Afghanistan].”

KARACHI: A provincial governor in Pakistan and the UAE consulate in Karachi said this week visa issues between the two countries had been resolved and Pakistanis could now apply for five-year visas to the Emirates.
There have been widespread reports in recent months of a decline in visa approvals by the UAE for Pakistanis and a decrease in overall employment opportunities for the South Asian country’s nationals, allegedly due to their lack of respect for local laws and customs, as well as their participation in political activities and sloganeering while abroad.
News that visa issues had been resolved first came on Monday from the office of the governor of Pakistan’s Sindh province after he met UAE Ambassador Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi in Karachi. 
“In a meeting with Governor Sindh Kamran Khan Tessori, UAE Ambassador Hamad Obaid Al-Zaabi said that visa issues have been resolved, Pakistanis can get five-year visas,” Tessori’s office said in a statement.

On Tuesday, the UAE’s consulate in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, also released a statement about the meeting between Al-Zaabi and Tessori, quoting the governor as saying Pakistanis could avail the five-year visa facility. 
“We love Pakistanis very much,” the statement added, quoting Consul General Bakheet Ateeq Al-Rumaithi. “Every person can apply for a UAE visa … Pakistani citizens can also apply for a UAE visa for work, medical treatment and other needs.”
In February, Pakistani Ambassador to the UAE, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, had said several factors were contributing to Pakistanis’ inability to obtain visas, including problems with documentation and criminal records of applicants. 
There are approximately 1.5 to 2 million Pakistanis living in the UAE, making them the second-largest expatriate group after Indians. The Gulf nation is also the second largest source of foreign remittances to Pakistan after Saudi Arabia.