While we were busy with other major news, Pakistan, on October 3rd, asked everyone living illegally in the country to move out voluntarily by November 1st or be arrested, and thousands of people left - on their own.
The UN tried to intervene, the Afghan government tried to influence, but the *interim* government of Pakistan kept its stand unchanged. They must leave, or they will be arrested.
This, from an interim government.
Some of these undocumented people reached Pakistan in 1979 but never documented themselves or applied for refugee/citizen status.
This makes Pakistan the first country in the world to successfully deal with illegal immigration.
PS: Is there a human cost? Sure. Is this the right thing to do? No idea. But I think it deserves to be recognised that Pakistan became the first country to issue a warning and actually get illegal residents to voluntarily leave.
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