As the deadline set for the deportation of Afghan citizen card holders from the country is over, thousands of Afghans living in different parts of the Punjab, including Lahore, fearing a crackdown by the law-enforcement agencies (LEAs), have gone into hiding, presenting a formidable challenge to the authorities, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.
The government has swung into action following reports that 67,825 Afghans had disappeared.
As many as 7,341 Afghans have gone missing from Lahore; 37,577 from Rawalpindi; 12,438 from Gujranwala, while 8,318 from Sargodha.
Meanwhile, the eviction of Afghans from different cities of the country continues as over 1,000 have been sent back to their native country via Torkham border from Punjab alone.
As many as 1,339 more Afghans will be repatriated to their homeland today.
In Islamabad, the LEAs have rounded up hundreds of Afghans living in huts and have shifted them to Haji Camp before their onward journey to Afghanistan.
Similarly, in neighbouring Rawalpindi, more than 190 Afghans have been shifted to holding centers.
Likewise, crackdown has been launched in other cities of the Punjab as well.
Reporters: Irfan Malik, Qaiser Khokhar, Muhammad Owais, Irshad Qureshi