Islamabad, March 16 : Over 300 illegal Afghan refugees have been detained by police during raids carried out in various parts of Swabi district in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, local media reported on Monday.

A crackdown had been launched after the district administration and police officials' decision to deport illegal Afghans, daily Dawn reported, citing sources. The police had ordered Station House Officers (SHOs) to keep data of all illegal Afghans in the jurisdictions of their police stations.

According to sources, 341 Afghan refugees were arrested during raids conducted in Topi, Razaar, Chota Lahor tehsils and other parts of Swabi on Sunday. They mentioned that the raids will continue and all Afghan refugees, who are illegally residing in Swabi, will be detained and deported to Afghanistan.

Around 30,000 Afghan refugees still live in various parts of Swabi, with most of them having proper documentation, while others stay illegally. The sources revealed that these Afghan refugees were residing in Gandaf Refugees Camp and Gohati Refugees Camp, and a large number of them were staying in various farming fields and cities, Dawn reported.

In the past few months, the district administration has been making efforts to ensure the repatriation of Afghan refugees at the earliest, according to sources. They further mentioned that the district administration had shut all the shops in the Gohati refugee camp. However, the refugees said that it is very difficult for them to shut their businesses so quickly, as they have established them through hard work for over 40 years.

Earlier in February, Afghanistan's Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock, Ataullah Omari, slammed the neighbouring nations for their policy of deporting Afghan refugees, saying that host nations have deported refugees, breaching humanitarian principles, human rights, and refugee rights.

He stated that more than 4.5 million Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan from various nations since the start of the expulsion process, Afghanistan-based media outlet Tolo News reported. "Our brothers were forcibly expelled from their homes. They were hosted for nearly 40 years, but in the end, they were deported by force and in violation of humanitarian principles."

His statement came as Pakistan and Iran continue to deport Afghan refugees, sparking concerns about Afghanistan's capacity to resettle the returnees. Some Afghan refugees who have recently returned to Afghanistan stated that they were forcibly deported from host nations and were not given the opportunity to take their belongings, leaving everything behind in those countries.

/IANS