大象传媒

Thousands of Afghans living in Pakistan have raced to the border to beat a Wednesday deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave the country.

Pakistan says 1.7 million such people must leave by 1 November or face arrest and deportation. Most are Afghans.

Many refugees are terrified, having fled Afghanistan after the Taliban retook control in 2021. Others have been in Pakistan for decades.

The deadline to leave technically expired at midnight on Tuesday.

However Pakistani media report that those who are in transit to leave the country will be allowed to continue their journeys throughout the day.

One person in Islamabad caught up in this situation - a refugee we're calling Jan in order to protect his identity for safety reasons 鈥� told 大象传媒 Newsday he hadn鈥檛 gone out for 48 hours and had been told not to go out because he could be detained.

He said he had two 鈥渂eautiful daughters鈥� and he and his wife were trying to keep them safe indoors with constant requests from them to go out.

(Pic: Afghan nationals, who according to police were undocumented, are handcuffed as they are detained and shifted to a holding centre; Credit: REUTERS/Akhtar Sooomro)

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