Over 22,000 Afghan refugees were forced to leave Pakistan and return to Afghanistan amid fears of persecution by Pakistani authorities following a deadly attack on a school in Peshawar city last year, Khaama news agency reported.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) more than 22,000 undocumented Afghans flocked across the border at Torkham in January.
IOM mission chief in Afghanistan Richard Danzinger has said the number of Afghans forced to flee Pakistan last month is more than twice the figure for the whole of 2014.
The number of Afghan refugees who were deported by the Pakistani authorities has also considerably grown with reports suggesting at least 1,500 people were deported in January.
At least 72 Afghan nationals were arrested by the Pakistani police in the latest crackdown in Peshawar city of Pakistan.
Following a deadly attack on an army-run school in Peshawar city of Pakistan, the federal government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa set a deadline for the expulsion of Afghan refugees on 20th December last year.
Over 130 school children were massacred following an attack at the Army Public School on 16th December on Warsak Road in Peshawar.
The attack was carried out by a group of militants belonging to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who claimed responsibility behind the massacre and said the attack was carried out in revenge to Pakistani military operations which left scores of civilians dead.
The Pakistani government claimed that the TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah, based in Afghanistan was involved in plotting and coordinating the attack together with the group’s commanders.