Pakistan police arrests 13 Afghan doctors, 1 medical student even as their visa applications remains pending for nearly a year

Police in Multan city of Pakistan’s Punjab province have arrested 13 Afghan doctors and a medical student and took them to a deportation centre. The action was taken despite the group claiming that their applications remained pending for nearly a year.

As per local media reports, the detainees said on Tuesday that the police officials took them into custody from a Multan-based government hospital. Later on, they took them to a detention facility in Attock, with the 14 of them now facing possible deportation, IANS reported.

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Afghanistan-based news agency Khaama Press stated that the group applied for new visas or extensions of visas nearly a year ago. It added that the authorities in Pakistan did not take any decision on the same.

In the group, five individuals had applied for entry visas, wile the remaining doctors had sought extension of their existing visas.

They have claimed that their immigration cases remained pending without any official resolution, even after police and security agencies in Pakistan repeatedly checked their documents.

All the doctors are now worried about getting deported to Afghanistan before completing their medical specialisation and training programmes.

Khaama Press reported that the 14-member group has requested authorities in Pakistan and Afghanistan to consider their case and allow them to remain in the country until the completion of their studies.

This comes at a time when Pakistan is cracking down on undocumented foreign nationals, especially those from Afghanistan, with authorities increasing detention and deportation operations in the country.

As per reports, 525 Afghan families were earlier repatriated from Pakistan to Afghanistan, with three refugee camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district becoming completely empty.