Pakistani authorities have released more than 520 Afghan nationals, including 97 children, who were being held in detention centers in the country after being apprehended in one of the many coordinated operations against illegal migration that Pakistani security forces have carried out over the past few months.
Many of these detainees are undocumented migrants, such as the 1,200 who were arrested on December 29 at the Pakistani port of Karachi.
The arrests sparked criticism across Afghanistan following the release of images of locked-up Afghan children and underlined the strained relations between the two South Asian neighbors, who are at loggerheads over occasional border disputes and the activity of the so-called «Pakistani Taliban».
«Today, Saturday, as a result of the efforts of the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad and the country’s Consulate General in Karachi, 524 Afghans were released from jails, including 54 women and 97 children,» the Afghan Taliban regime’s embassy in Pakistan, one of the few countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, has made known.
All transportation, food and clothing expenses of the prisoners will be borne by the Embassy and the Afghan Consulate, adds the statement, reported by the Afghan channel Ariana.
Millions of Afghans fled to Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of their country between 1979 and 1989, creating one of the largest refugee populations in the world. Since then, Pakistan has welcomed Afghans on condition that they register with the United Nations and local authorities to avoid any risk of deportation.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
