ISLAMABAD – Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed claimed on Monday that Pakistan has yet to grant refugee status to a single Afghan.
“As your [the] interior minister, I can confirm that we have not awarded the status of a refugee to even a single person,” he said at a press conference a day before US and other foreign forces leave the war-torn country.
Thousands of Afghans have attempted to flee the country since the Taliban gained control of the country last month, prompting the interior minister’s remarks. Pakistan had also been asked by the US to offer transit services, and Islamabad had made preparations with the city’s hotels.
Rasheed highlighted that Afghans cross the Chaman border into Pakistan on a daily basis and then return to their homeland, calling this “a normal practise.”
In response to a potential flood of Afghans, he stated that Pakistan had “made provisions to accommodate 3,000 people in Islamabad only,” and that “every individual of any nationality who comes to Pakistan from Afghanistan will be issued a transit visa of 21 days.”
He continued, “As of today, 1,627 people have entered Pakistan by air, while over 2,100 people have entered Pakistan by land at Torkham.”
Speaking further about developments in Afghanistan, the minister said that Pakistan had evacuated all but 30-40 citizens from the country.
“Those 30-40 people want to remain in Afghanistan. They got married there and now have families. They told us they are happy in Afghanistan,” he added.