Pakistan: Evacuation of Afghans

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 11:35 am on 8 November 2023.

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Photo of Johnny Mercer Johnny Mercer Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs) 11:35, 8 November 2023

This is a cross-Government effort, so people from the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office are in contact with the high commissioner in Pakistan every day. We are well aware of this challenge. There are two separate issues here: one is the wider Pakistani policy towards Afghans, which is not part of my work in this space; and the other is that being applied to those who are entitled to be in the UK and have been pre-approved to be in the UK. It is the latter that I am concerned about. We are determined to get assurances on them and we will keep working until we do. I have already made a commitment that if a single one of them is deported back whence they came, I will have failed, but we will make sure that does not happen.