Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has proposed that Afghan refugees be granted permanent residence in Pakistan.

This comes as the Pakistani government is deporting Afghan refugees citing security concerns.

There are currently 2.1 million registered Afghan migrants in Pakistan, more than half of them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistani officials have repeatedly claimed that attacks in the country are planned on Afghan soil and that Afghan citizens have been involved in a number of attacks. The Islamic Emirate, however, has denied the claim, saying Afghanistan is not responsible for Pakistan’s “security failure”.

While the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has called for permanent residence for Afghan refugees, its governor, Faisal Karim Kundi, has criticized the statement as “absurd.”

Kundi said the current security crisis in Pakistan is deeply linked to Afghanistan and 70 percent of recent attacks in Pakistan have been planned on Afghan soil.

He also claimed that weapons left over from foreign forces in Afghanistan are now being used against Pakistan, a claim the Islamic Emirate has previously denied.

After the expiry of a deadline for voluntary return to Afghanistan, authorities in Pakistan on Thursday arrested 60 illegal Afghan migrants from different areas of Rawalpindi and Islamabad during a search operation, local media reported.

The Express Tribune reported that 22 migrants were arrested in Islamabad and 38 in Rawalpindi.

All of them were later transferred to a camp in the Haji Camp area.

After their biometric and registration at the camp, these people will be shifted to the Landi Kotal area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from where they will be deported to Afghanistan through Torkham border crossing.

Pakistan had set a March 31 deadline for all illegal residents, including Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holder, to voluntarily return to their home countries.

Afghans holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) — issued by Pakistan authorities and held by 800,000 people, according to the United Nations — face deportation to Afghanistan after the deadline.

More than 1.3 million Afghans who hold Proof of Registration (PoR) cards from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, are also to be moved outside the capital Islamabad and neighbouring city Rawalpindi.

Acting Foreign Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) Amir Khan Muttaqi on Thursday met with senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official Mohammad Reza Bahrami Taqanaki for talks on bilateral relations, water issues, Afghan refugees and recent developments.

According to a statement issued by Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, Muttaqi told the Iranian official that bilateral relations were expanding and emphasized that both countries should make the most of the existing opportunities.

Bahrami Taqanaki, who is Iran’s new Assistant Minister and Director General for South Asian Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, said in turn that after the Iranian foreign minister’s visit to Kabul, a new chapter in bilateral relations has opened up.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi appointed Bahrami Taqanaki, a seasoned diplomat with extensive experience in regional affairs, to the post in February.

Bahrami Taqanaki has served two terms as Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan. He also held key consular positions, serving as Iran’s Consul General in Jalalabad during the Islamic Emirate’s previous rule and in Kandahar in 2002.