Afghans who made Pakistan their home are now 'hiding' for fear of deportation.

 Afghans who made Pakistan their home are now 'hiding' for fear of deportation.

An 18-year-old boy, born and brought up to parents who moved to Pakistan from neighboring Afghanistan half a century ago, found himself at the mercy of the police in Karachi, who confiscated his cash, phone and motorcycle and sent him for deportation. Sent to the center.

Scared and distraught, the young man spent three days with nothing but his clothes before being sent back to Afghanistan, a place he had never been.

According to the American news agency AP, this young man is one of the 1.7 million Afghans who made Pakistan their home because their country was at war for decades. These refugees are living without legal permission and are now the target of a tough crackdown on migrants who Pakistan says must leave.

Since the crackdown began last October, nearly 600,000 Afghans have returned home, meaning at least a million are hiding in Pakistan. They have disappeared from sight, lost their jobs and rarely leave their areas because they fear deportation.

It is difficult for them to earn money, rent a house, buy food or get medical help because they fear being caught by the police or being reported to the authorities by Pakistanis.

The young man, who has been working as a mechanic at an auto shop since he was 15, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of arrest and deportation.

The young man has applied for the same legal credentials his family has but will no longer receive them. Pakistan is not issuing legal documents to Afghan refugees or their children.

"My life is here," the young man said, referring to anti-refugee raids in the country at the time. I have no friends or family in Afghanistan, nothing. I wanted to come back (to Pakistan) soon but first the situation should have calmed down.

When he entered Afghanistan to start a new life, Taliban officials gave him 2,500 Afghanis ($34). They sent the young man to the northeastern province of Takhar where he slept in mosques and madrasas because he did not know anyone there. He spent his time there playing cricket and football and used people's phones to contact his family.

Six weeks later, the young man traveled from Takhar to the Afghan capital, Kabul, and then to the eastern province of Nangarhar. He walked in the dark for hours before meeting human traffickers with the help of his brother in Pakistan. Their job was to deliver it to Peshawar for $70.

He is relieved to be reunited with his family but is weak.

Police have put numbers on houses in his area to show how many people live there and how many have documents. Hundreds of Afghan families have been displaced from the area since the operation began. Few people are hiding.