SOME 1.45 million Afghan refugees are to be allowed to remain in Pakistan for another year, the government has announced following a visit by the head of the UN refugee agency.

Those with proper documentation will be able to stay until June 30 2025, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said in a statement on Wednesday. 

The day before, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi had urged Pakistan’s authorities to extend the validity of the Afghans’ registration cards.

The previous extension of residency rights issued by Islamabad expired at the end of June , causing broad uncertainty among the refugees, who feared repatriation to their Taliban-ruled homeland.

The decision came after a widely criticised crackdown began last year, targeting anyone without valid documentation regardless of nationality, according to Pakistani authorities, and forcing an estimated 600,000 Afghans to return home.

However, there was confusion after Mr Grandi issued a statement expressing his appreciation that the repatriation of undocumented persons had been suspended.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that “no such understanding has been given by Pakistan to the UNHCR.”

She insisted tht the crackdown, known as the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan, was still in place and was being “implemented in an orderly and phased manner.”