A day after the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan slammed Pakistan's decision to expel its undocumented nationals and termed it "unacceptable", Islamabad on Thursday clarified that its ongoing operation against illegal immigrants was not targeted against people of any particular nationality.
On Tuesday, Pakistan's caretaker government set November 1 as the deadline for thousands of undocumented immigrants, including Afghan nationals, to leave the country or risk imprisonment and deportation as it intensified its crackdown against those involved in militancy and smuggling.
Reacting to the development, the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan on Wednesday said Pakistan's decision is "unacceptable".
"The Pakistani side should reconsider its plan. Afghan refugees are not involved in Pakistan's security problems. As long as they leave Pakistan voluntarily, that country should tolerate them," Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said.
Replying to a question at the Foreign Office's weekly briefing here, spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the ongoing action envisages repatriation of individuals who have either remained in Pakistan beyond their visa or do not possess "valid" documents to stay in the country.
“Pakistan is within parameters of its sovereign domestic laws to take action in this context,” she said.
At the same time, she said, the ongoing operation has nothing to do with the 1.4 million Afghan refugees that Pakistan has been hosting for decades "despite its own constrained economic situation".
Pakistan's national policy on Afghan refugees "remains unchanged" and their safe and honourable repatriation is a "separate matter" on which Islamabad continues to engage with Afghanistan, the spokesperson said.
In response to another query, Baloch said Pakistan has very clearly articulated its concerns over the use of Afghan soil for terrorism. "Islamabad, while believing in diplomacy and dialogue, continues engagement with Kabul to fight the threat," she said.
The Foreign Office also refuted media reports that Pakistan has closed transit trade with Afghanistan, saying that the trade continues but the country will not accept the misuse of existing trade facilities.
Pakistan interim interior minister Sarfaraz Bugti on Tuesday said that there are currently 1.73 million unregistered illegal Afghans living in the country.
Since January, 14 out of 24 suicide attacks in Pakistan were carried out by Afghan nationals, he said.
So far more than 700 Afghans have been arrested since early September in Karachi alone and hundreds more in other cities.
