The Pakistani government has extended to the end of June a deadline for the compulsory repatriation of more than 2 million Afghan refugees, officials said on Friday.

Afghans can now live in Pakistan for another three months, a period during which the process of their repatriation would be expedited, said Shaukat Aqdas, spokesman for a ministry that deals with the refugees.

Afghan refugees in Pakistan have faced an uncertain future since the country's cabinet earlier this year decided to expel all of them by the end of January. The deadline was then extended until the end of March.

The Afghan authorities and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) have in the past expressed reservations on the settlement of refugees in the war-hit regions. The UNHCR is currently undertaking the voluntary repatriation of around 1.4 million Afghans, most of them living in Pakistan since their country was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979. The rest face involuntary expulsions after the June deadline. Pakistan has announced the expulsions of Afghan refugees several times in the recent past but these decisions were never followed through.