Pakistan says Afghans can’t live in capital without government certificate after Dec. 31

Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Mohsin Naqvi, has announced that Afghan citizens will not be allowed to live in Islamabad without a No Objection Certificate (NOC), a government-issued permission document, after December 31.

As reported by Pakistani media outlet The Express Tribune, the Pakistani official said that Afghan citizens wishing to remain must obtain the required document from government authorities in Islamabad.

“No Afghan citizen will be able to live in the federal capital without having proper permission from the district administration of Islamabad,” the interior minister said.

The development comes after at least 19 Afghan citizens, reportedly involved in the recent violent protest in Islamabad, were arrested and taken into custody.

The protest, organized by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party led by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, started on Sunday. Thousands gathered in the city to hold a sit-in demonstration until their demands, including Mr. Khan’s release, were fulfilled.

Pakistani authorities had closed major roads in Islamabad, using shipping containers to block protesters from reaching the area near the country’s parliament and Supreme Court buildings. They had also disrupted mobile internet services throughout the city.

The protest turned violent on Monday when Pakistani law enforcement personnel clashed with protesters, leading to casualties on both sides, including the deaths and injuries of several Pakistani police officers.

Earlier today, after the protest was suspended, Islamabad police chief Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said in a news conference that 19 Afghan citizens were among nearly 1,000 protesters arrested by Pakistani security forces over the past three days.

This is not the first time Afghan nationals have been arrested in Pakistan for their involvement in protests supporting Imran Khan’s party. Last month, during a similar protest in Islamabad, at least 60 Afghan citizens were arrested. In March of the previous year, dozens of Afghans were detained during a large protest in response to police attempts to arrest Mr. Khan.

Pakistan hosts millions of Afghans who have fled conflict, persecution, and unemployment in their homeland. According to the UN, there are currently 3.2 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Over 600,000 of them entered the country after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, fearing persecution and reprisals. While thousands have been relocated to Western countries, thousands of others have remained in Pakistan for years, awaiting the processing of their applications.

In November last year, Pakistan initiated a crackdown on undocumented foreign nationals, primarily targeting Afghans, and framed the move as a counter-terrorism measure. Since then, it has deported nearly 800,000 Afghans back to Taliban-controlled, impoverished Afghanistan.