Sunday 24 / November / 2024
Islamabad : The Islamabad police have asked all illegal immigrants in Pakistan to shift to a camp set up for them at I-12 on a voluntary basis within 48 hours, Dawn reported.
The Afghan refugees settlement spans across two sectors (H-12 and I-12) in the capital city of Islamabad and it has been home to more than 5000 Afghan refugees for almost 25 years now.
Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper.
The country's police on Monday said all those residing in the capital without legal documents should move to the camp.
A police officer told Dawn that there were 54 official camps set up for refugees in the country, 44 in KP, nine in Balochistan and one in Punjab. There are no official camps for them in Islamabad and Sindh.
The officer said that all illegal immigrants had been asked to move to the camp at I-2 set up for them on humanitarian grounds.
Another officer said e-tagging of foreigners residing in the capital legally had been completed and data in this regard was also prepared by a unit of the Counter-Terrorism Department. The data will assist the police in identifying illegal immigrants, he added.
The police have registered three more cases against illegal immigrants and arrested five more foreigners for their stay in the city without documents. The Karachi Company police arrested three illegal foreigners from G-9/4.
The police said during checking the three persons were found acting suspiciously. As a result, they were detained and during a preliminary investigation, it emerged that they were staying in the capital illegally.
Later, they were shifted to the police station and put behind bars for further legal action after the registration of a case against them under Section 14 of Foreigners' Act.
The Koral police have meanwhile arrested an illegal immigrant at Sharifabad. The police said during a crackdown on anti-social elements, they intercepted a man and during questioning, he introduced himself as a foreigner, but failed to produce any legal documents.
As a result, he was arrested and shifted to the police station where a case was registered against him.
The Pakistan police have so far checked and verified the status of 1,172 foreigners, the police said. Out of the total, 511 failed to produce legal documents and were arrested for further legal action. In this regard, 69 cases have been registered against foreigners at different police stations.
Meanwhile, a cooperative housing society in the capital has asked the owners to vacate their flats and houses rented out to any illegal foreigner. The society said the decision was taken on the direction of the government, as per Dawn.
