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鈥檚 interior ministry asked all 鈥渋llegal foreigners鈥� and holders of Afghan Citizen Cards 鈥� a document launched in 2017 to grant temporary legal status to Afghan refugees 鈥� 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 鈥渘ot right,鈥� others like teacher Pervaiz Akhtar supported the government鈥檚 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鈥檚 security problems. 
鈥淓ven on social media, they [Afghans] are against Pakistan ... They make their living here, but they are against us,鈥� Akhtar said. 
鈥淚f 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.鈥�
But Iffat said the government was not 鈥渄oing the right thing鈥� by expelling Afghans:
鈥淏ecause 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.鈥�
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 鈥渦nfinished鈥� life after a decade in Pakistan.
鈥淚 had a stable job, I had found stability,鈥� he said, standing in front of rows of loaded trucks bound for Afghanistan. 鈥淭hen the government told us we had to leave.鈥�
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.
鈥淲e were harassed every day. They didn鈥檛 even spare us on the streets and threw us straight into jail,鈥� Hazrat added.
鈥淏ecause of all this, we became very desperate and decided to leave Karachi [for Afghanistan].鈥�