By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - Pakistan has launched a crackdown on undocumented foreigners across the country, as the deadline for them to leave the country ended the previous day.

The first group of foreigners who were arrested by Islamabad police during the last few days was deported Wednesday morning.

"Today, we said goodbye to 64 Afghan nationals as they began their journey back home. This action is a testament to Pakistan's determination to repatriate any individuals residing in the country without proper documentation," interim Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said on X.

Provincial governments of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces also launched a crackdown to arrest and shift undocumented foreigners into holding camps.

Pakistan’s caretaker government had announced last month to deport all undocumented foreigners after Oct. 31.

The UN, human rights organizations and Afghanistan's Taliban-led interim administration had urged Pakistan to reverse its decision. But Islamabad said the government had no plan to extend the deadline and all foreigners would be deported regardless of their nationality.

Pakistan has been hosting a large number of Afghan refugees since the 1979 Soviet invasion of its northern neighbor, with nearly 2.9 million still living in the country.

According to the UN human rights office, more than 2 million undocumented Afghans were living in Pakistan, including at least 600,000 who left Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai on Tuesday said they would confiscate and sell properties of all undocumented foreigners who were living in the country.