No Time to Say Goodbye: Afghan Families Scramble as Pakistan Enforces Foreigner Crackdown

In late 2025, a sudden foreigner verification drive across Pakistan triggered panic and heartbreak for thousands of Afghan families who have lived, worked, and rooted themselves in the country for years—or even decades. With as little as 45 minutes to assemble documents and vacate homes, Afghans faced a gut-wrenching rush: to collect identification, close businesses, arrange travel, and say goodbye—not knowing when, or if, they would return.

This is the new reality unfolding across Pakistani cities: a relentless government's push to register, verify, and in many cases, expel undocumented foreigners—and Afghan migrants are bearing the brunt.

🕒 The Clock Is Ticking: Time Is a Precious Commodity

In mid‑August, authorities suddenly appeared at homes, workshops, and shrines across Karachi, Peshawar, and Lahore. Intermittent warnings on local news were vague, but when immigration officials arrived in person, they gave residents as little as 45 minutes to pack their essentials before rounding them up. Mothers clutched crying children. Shopkeepers abandoned livelihood inventory. Grandmothers hurriedly gathered jewelry and keepsakes before hurriedly locking doors they had opened for decades.

For Open‑Air Tortilla Street in Karachi’s outskirts, the scene was chaos—entire Afghan families trying to collect IDs and shreds of evidence of legal status. Many, especially those who’d strayed from initial registration or lost documentation, remained uncertain if their paperwork would save them.

👨‍👩‍👧 Lives Torn by Policy: Generations at Stake

These families carry stories of loss and resilience. Some fled the wars in Afghanistan in the early 2000s. Others made Pakistan their second home—opening small grocery stores, working as teachers, mechanics, or street vendors, and marrying locals. Children born in Pakistan grew up blending Pashto, Urdu, and Punjabi; for them, Pakistan was no longer foreign—it was home.

But overnight, many found themselves classified as undocumented. Parents scrambled to find money for exits—airpass fees, temporary visas, bribes. Save‑what‑you-can sales started at roadside stalls; community kitchens offered free meals. Yet even with help from charities, many expressed shame and fear—loss of dignity, community exclusion, and a sudden expulsion from normal life.

One father, who arrived in Karachi in 2005 and married a local woman, said: “This is the only home we have. My daughter studies here; my wife’s parents live here. Now, we are told to leave in less than an hour… We live in suitcase worlds.”

📁 Documentation Nightmare: Old Papers, No Recourse

Many parking under the border were once registered and even granted Temporary Protection Visas. But lost receipts, expired stamps, incomplete renewals, bureaucratic mishaps—and now, stringent crackdowns—left hundreds in limbo.

Some had valid cards but missed renewal appointments for fear of harassment. Others misplaced sensitive documents while fleeing counter‑terrorism sweeps. With few legal aid groups at hand, trying to find or reissue records is nearly impossible—let alone in 45 minutes.

Local lawyers, overwhelmed by cases, say the system denies due process. "We see no dialogue, no hearings," one volunteer attorney explained. "They list your name, ask you to pack, and that’s that."

💔 The Human Cost: More Than Just Numbers

For many, this morning of haste scratches deep emotional wounds. Grandparents left behind neighbors and community networks. Children packed textbooks in plastic bags, imagining starting school all over again. Women hurriedly grabbed saris and prayer mats, worried about crossing checkpoints.

A mother said through tears: “We prayed here, we cried here, we sang here—this was our life. We now walk into an uncertain tomorrow with a small bag and a heavy heart.”

Widely shared videos and social media images show adults carrying tiny children, plastic bags of clothes, or even nothing but hope. And those who couldn’t afford bus fare or lacked passports are stranded at bus depots—sleeping on floors, waiting for relatives or aid.

🧭 What’s Driving the Crackdown?

Analysts point to several converging factors:

1. Internal Political Pressures

Pakistan’s government faces rising nationalism, and enforcing immigration aligns with domestic narratives of “sovereignty” and electoral messaging.

2. International Expectations

Global agencies and donor nations have long urged Pakistan to clamp down on undocumented migration. Renewing financing for refugee camps may depend on visible action.

3. Security Concerns

Authorities cite worries about undocumented individuals from extremist backgrounds or traffickers hiding behind legitimate migrant communities.

Despite these public justifications, the emotional and economic toll on Afghans remains largely absent from policy discourse.

🌎 Stranded Between Borders

Many Afghans aiming for Kabul say Pakistani officials handed them old maps, scrap resignations, and few instructions on obtaining border passes. Flights to Kabul are booked solid for days; fuel shortages and customs checks delay buses. Some have families still in School.Until papers are scanned and visas issued, many must survive on ration packets and prayers.

Desperate to hold onto some normalcy, parents look for humanitarian visas, medical evacuations, or resettlement in third countries. But those routes are rare, competitive, and extremely slow compared to the swim-around-the-clock deadline they've been given.

🎯 Community Response: Aid in Action

Despite emptiness, hope persists.

• Local mosques and churches offer meals or shelter on rented floors.

• A network of pro-bono lawyers files emergency stays in civil courts.

• Foreigner and refugee agencies distribute water, blankets, infant formula and phone recharges.

• Volunteers crowd mosque yards advocating for more humane timelines and fair reviews.

Yet without central coordination and policy leniency, these efforts are only triage, not solutions.

🧩 What Comes Next?

The toughest questions loom:

• Will Pakistan allow re-registration periods for those who prove documentation later?

• Can we expect consistent legal processes or just blanket removals?

• What happens when these families resettle in unstable Afghanistan—are return or re-integration programs ready?

• Could the international community pressure Pakistan to delay, soften, or provide aid-assisted resettlement?

🧭 A Broader Reflection on Global Migration

This crisis isn’t unique to Pakistan. Globally, migration enforcement is a flashpoint—from U.S. border policies to European deportations. What makes the Afghan experience here potent is its stark immediacy: 45 minutes to pack a lifetime.

These stories raise larger ethical questions: What responsibility do host nations have toward those who’ve built roots? How should systems balance sovereignty, security, and human dignity? And, when a government issues arbitrary deadlines, is there room for judicial intervention or moral accountability?

 Beyond the Bureaucratic Blitz

Pakistan’s foreigner crackdown revealed more than a checklist of identity papers—it exposed the fragile human story of lives upended. In 45 minutes, entire lifetimes were boxed up or left behind—memories, languages, futures weighed in plastic bags.

How Pakistan responds in the coming days—whether with grace, process, or assistance—will define its leadership on migration. For those forced beyond their doorsteps, the trauma will linger long after passports are stamped and buses depart. But among the dust, a fragile hope remains: that a world watching will demand those 45 minutes do not decide the fate of generations.