ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has started deporting registered Afghan refugees ahead of its deadline for them to leave, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in a move that could see more than one million Afghans expelled from the country. The decision comes in line with the interior ministry’s announcement on July 31 that Proof of Registration (PoR) cardholders — the last category of Afghans legally residing in Pakistan without visas — became unlawful residents after their cards expired on June 30. However, the federal government informed the provinces that the formal repatriation and deportation of over 1.3 million Afghan refugees holding PoR cards will begin on September 1. The UNHCR said that it had received reports of arrests and expulsions of legally registered Afghans across the country before Pakistan’s September 1 deadline for them to leave. The UN Commission said that repatriating the Afghans in this way was a breach of Pakistan’s international obligations. “UNHCR is calling on the government to stop the forcible return and adopt a humane approach to ensure voluntary, gradual, and dignified return of Afghans,” it said in a statement. On the other hand, a Pakistan’s interior ministry order said that the voluntary return of the documented refugees shall commence forthwith adding the formal deportation process will start after the deadline. Qaisar Khan Afridi, a spokesman for the UNHCR, said on Wednesday that hundreds of legally registered Afghan refugees had already been detained and deported to Afghanistan from August 1 to August 4. More than 1.3 million Afghans hold documentation known as PoR cards, while 750,000 more have another form of registration known as an Afghan Citizen Card. Many Afghans left their country to settle in Pakistan in the 1980s, to escape cycles of war in Afghanistan. “Such massive and hasty return could jeopardise the lives and freedom of Afghan refugees, while also risking instability not only in Afghanistan but across the region,” UNHCR said. Pakistani authorities have said that Islamabad wants all Afghan nationals to leave, except for those who have valid visas. Pakistan’s repatriation campaign is part of a plan called the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation, launched in late 2023. The country has in the past blamed militant attacks and crimes on Afghan citizens, who form the largest migrant group in the country. Afghanistan has, however, rejected the accusations and has termed the repatriations as forced deportation.