SCORES of Afghan migrants crammed into trucks and buses in Pakistan today and headed to the border ahead of a deadline by the government for those who are in the country illegally to leave or face deportation.

Pakistani officials had warned that people who are in the country illegally face arrest and deportation after October 31.

The deadline is part of a new anti-migrant crackdown that targets all undocumented or unregistered foreigners, according to Islamabad.

UN agencies say there are more than two million undocumented Afghans in Pakistan, at least 600,000 of whom fled after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

Human Rights Watch accused Pakistan of resorting to “threats, abuse and detention to coerce Afghan asylum-seekers without legal status” to return to Afghanistan.

It called for authorities to drop the deadline and work with the UN refugee agency to register those without papers.

The crackdown comes amid strained relations between Pakistan and the neighbouring Taliban rulers.

Islamabad accuses Kabul of turning a blind eye to Taliban-allied militants who go back and forth across the two countries’ shared 2,611-kilometre (1,622-mile) border to stage attacks in Pakistan.

The Taliban deny the accusations.

“My father came to Pakistan 40 years ago,” said 52-year-old Mohammad Amin, speaking in Peshawar.

“He died here. My mother also died here and their graves are in Pakistan.

“We are going back today as we never tried to register ourselves as refugees with the UN refugee agency.”

Nasrullah Khan, 62, said he was not worried by the prospect of Taliban rule but that it was still “better to go back to Afghanistan instead of getting arrested here.”

Thousands of Afghans in Pakistan have been waiting for relocation to the United States under a special refugee programme since fleeing the Taliban takeover.

Under US rules, applicants first had to relocate to a third country — in this case, Pakistan — for their cases to be processed.

The applicants have often protested in Pakistan against the delay in the approval of their visas.

Afghanistan is going through a severe humanitarian crisis, particularly for women and girls, who are banned by the Taliban from getting an education beyond Year 7, most public spaces and jobs.

There are also restrictions on media, activists and civil society organisations.