Pakistan Demands Deportations of Afghans, Stoking Tension With Taliban
The Pakistani authorities announced plans to expel more than one million Afghans living illegally in Pakistan, a sign of increasing hostility between the Pakistani government and Taliban authorities.
The Pakistani authorities announced plans to expel more than one million Afghans living illegally in Pakistan, a sign of increasing hostility between the Pakistani government and Taliban authorities.
Afghan families departing for their homeland on Friday in Karachi, Pakistan.
Credit...Fareed Khan/Associated Press
By Zia ur-Rehman and Christina Goldbaum
Zia ur-Rehman reported from Karachi, Pakistan, and Christina Goldbaum from London.
Oct. 8, 2023
Hundreds of police officers flooded into a Karachi slum around midnight, surrounding the homes of Afghan migrants and pounding at their doors. Under the harsh glare of floodlights, the police told women to stand to one side of their homes and demanded the men present immigration papers proving they were living in Pakistan legally. Those without documents were lined up in the street, some shaking with fear for what was to come: Detention in a Pakistani prison and deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The police raid on Friday in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, followed an abrupt decision by the Pakistani authorities last week to deport the more than one million Afghan migrants living illegally in the country.
“Police entered every house without warning,” said Abdul Bashar, an Afghan migrant whose two cousins were among the 51 people who the police said were arrested during the neighborhood sweep. “The fear has left us restless, making it difficult for us to sleep peacefully at night.”
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry announced that migrants residing illegally in the country had 28 days to leave voluntarily, and it offered a “reward” for information leading to their arrests once that deadline passed.
Though Pakistani officials say the crackdown applies to all foreign citizens, the policy is largely believed to be targeting Afghans, who make up the vast majority of migrants in Pakistan.
While Afghans have faced harassment in Pakistan for decades, this announcement was the government’s most far-reaching and explicit action affecting Afghan migrants. It was widely seen as a sign of the increasing hostility between the Pakistani government and the Taliban authorities in neighboring Afghanistan as they clash over extremist groups operating across their borders.
By Zia ur-Rehman and Christina Goldbaum
Zia ur-Rehman reported from Karachi, Pakistan, and Christina Goldbaum from London.
Oct. 8, 2023
Hundreds of police officers flooded into a Karachi slum around midnight, surrounding the homes of Afghan migrants and pounding at their doors. Under the harsh glare of floodlights, the police told women to stand to one side of their homes and demanded the men present immigration papers proving they were living in Pakistan legally. Those without documents were lined up in the street, some shaking with fear for what was to come: Detention in a Pakistani prison and deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The police raid on Friday in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, followed an abrupt decision by the Pakistani authorities last week to deport the more than one million Afghan migrants living illegally in the country.
“Police entered every house without warning,” said Abdul Bashar, an Afghan migrant whose two cousins were among the 51 people who the police said were arrested during the neighborhood sweep. “The fear has left us restless, making it difficult for us to sleep peacefully at night.”
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry announced that migrants residing illegally in the country had 28 days to leave voluntarily, and it offered a “reward” for information leading to their arrests once that deadline passed.
Though Pakistani officials say the crackdown applies to all foreign citizens, the policy is largely believed to be targeting Afghans, who make up the vast majority of migrants in Pakistan.
While Afghans have faced harassment in Pakistan for decades, this announcement was the government’s most far-reaching and explicit action affecting Afghan migrants. It was widely seen as a sign of the increasing hostility between the Pakistani government and the Taliban authorities in neighboring Afghanistan as they clash over extremist groups operating across their borders.
At an Afghan refugee camp in Karachi last month.
Credit...Rizwan Tabassum/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Over the past year, Pakistan has experienced a surge in terrorist attacks, both by militant groups that have found haven in Afghanistan under the Taliban administration and by others whose fighters have been pushed into Pakistan following a brutal Taliban-led crackdown on their ranks. Some former Taliban fighters have also migrated to Pakistan to wage jihad against the Pakistani government.
For months, the Pakistani authorities have pleaded with the Taliban to rein in extremist violence stemming from Afghan soil. But Taliban officials have rebuffed those calls, instead offering to mediate talks between the Pakistani authorities and the militants.
The growing animosity between the two countries has threatened to further destabilize a region that is already a political tinderbox.
More on PakistanImran Khan Corruption Case: An appeals court suspended Imran Khan’s three-year prison sentence, the latest twist in the political showdown between the former prime minister and the military establishment.
Caretaker Prime Minister: The Pakistani government named Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar as the country’s interim leader, a move that kicks off preparations for the next general elections.
Attack at Political Rally: An Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a political rally in northwestern Pakistan that killed dozens of people, in the latest sign of the country’s deteriorating security situation.
Train Derailment: At least 30 people were killed after a train derailed in southern Pakistan, thrusting the dilapidated state of the country’s railway infrastructure back into the spotlight.
On one side of the contested border, the Taliban administration in Afghanistan is armed with a vast arsenal of American-made weapons left during the U.S. withdrawal and feels encouraged by its victory over a global superpower. Many within the Taliban have also harbored resentment toward Pakistan for decades.
On the other is nuclear-armed Pakistan, which has struggled with military coups, volatile politics and waves of sectarian violence since its founding 75 years ago.
Caught in between are the roughly 1.7 million Afghans living in Pakistan illegally, according to Pakistani officials. Among them are around 600,000 people — including journalists, activists and former policemen, soldiers and former officials with the toppled U.S.-backed government — who fled after the Taliban seized power, according to United Nations estimates.
Many of those migrants face a stark choice: Either return to Afghanistan, where they fear persecution by the Taliban, or remain in Pakistan and face harassment from the Pakistani authorities.
“We have been left in the lurch,” said Mahmood Kochai, an Afghan journalist who fled to Pakistan with his wife and six children after the Taliban seized power.
Over the past year, Pakistan has experienced a surge in terrorist attacks, both by militant groups that have found haven in Afghanistan under the Taliban administration and by others whose fighters have been pushed into Pakistan following a brutal Taliban-led crackdown on their ranks. Some former Taliban fighters have also migrated to Pakistan to wage jihad against the Pakistani government.
For months, the Pakistani authorities have pleaded with the Taliban to rein in extremist violence stemming from Afghan soil. But Taliban officials have rebuffed those calls, instead offering to mediate talks between the Pakistani authorities and the militants.
The growing animosity between the two countries has threatened to further destabilize a region that is already a political tinderbox.
More on PakistanImran Khan Corruption Case: An appeals court suspended Imran Khan’s three-year prison sentence, the latest twist in the political showdown between the former prime minister and the military establishment.
Caretaker Prime Minister: The Pakistani government named Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar as the country’s interim leader, a move that kicks off preparations for the next general elections.
Attack at Political Rally: An Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a political rally in northwestern Pakistan that killed dozens of people, in the latest sign of the country’s deteriorating security situation.
Train Derailment: At least 30 people were killed after a train derailed in southern Pakistan, thrusting the dilapidated state of the country’s railway infrastructure back into the spotlight.
On one side of the contested border, the Taliban administration in Afghanistan is armed with a vast arsenal of American-made weapons left during the U.S. withdrawal and feels encouraged by its victory over a global superpower. Many within the Taliban have also harbored resentment toward Pakistan for decades.
On the other is nuclear-armed Pakistan, which has struggled with military coups, volatile politics and waves of sectarian violence since its founding 75 years ago.
Caught in between are the roughly 1.7 million Afghans living in Pakistan illegally, according to Pakistani officials. Among them are around 600,000 people — including journalists, activists and former policemen, soldiers and former officials with the toppled U.S.-backed government — who fled after the Taliban seized power, according to United Nations estimates.
Many of those migrants face a stark choice: Either return to Afghanistan, where they fear persecution by the Taliban, or remain in Pakistan and face harassment from the Pakistani authorities.
“We have been left in the lurch,” said Mahmood Kochai, an Afghan journalist who fled to Pakistan with his wife and six children after the Taliban seized power.
Afghan children studying the Quran at an Afghan refugee camp in Karachi.
Credit...Rizwan Tabassum/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Like many Afghan migrants in the capital, Islamabad, Mr. Kochai arrived in Pakistan on a temporary visa, anticipating an asylum decision from Western embassies in Islamabad. Soon after arriving, he applied for sanctuary in the United States under a refugee program for Afghans who worked with the U.S. government or U.S.-funded organizations.
But since he applied more than a year ago, he has not heard anything back, Mr. Kochai said. Now, he is concerned about the expiration of their Pakistani visas in two months.
In Karachi, home to a sizable population of Afghan migrants, news of migrants’ getting arrested at security checkpoints on roads and in markets during routine outings has stoked panic.
Ali, a former Afghan security official who would give only his first name because of his immigrant status in Pakistan, said he and his neighbors — also Afghan migrants — had barely gone outside for two weeks, fearing getting arrested and being sent back to Afghanistan. If he is deported, he worries he faces arrest — or worse — because of his affiliation with the U.S.-backed government.
The new policy has in fact drawn criticism from human rights groups, which say deporting Afghans could put them at risk in Afghanistan. Despite the Taliban’s policy of blanket amnesty for Afghans who worked with the U.S.-backed government, human rights monitors have documented hundreds of abuses against former government officials since the Taliban seized power.
Pakistani officials have defended the policy as necessary to protect Pakistan from extremist violence. In a news conference on Tuesday, the Pakistani caretaker government’s interior minister, Sarfraz Bugti, asserted that Afghans were involved in 14 of the 24 major terrorist attacks in Pakistan this year.
“There are attacks on us from Afghanistan, and Afghan nationals are involved in those attacks,” he said. Taliban officials denied those claims.
Like many Afghan migrants in the capital, Islamabad, Mr. Kochai arrived in Pakistan on a temporary visa, anticipating an asylum decision from Western embassies in Islamabad. Soon after arriving, he applied for sanctuary in the United States under a refugee program for Afghans who worked with the U.S. government or U.S.-funded organizations.
But since he applied more than a year ago, he has not heard anything back, Mr. Kochai said. Now, he is concerned about the expiration of their Pakistani visas in two months.
In Karachi, home to a sizable population of Afghan migrants, news of migrants’ getting arrested at security checkpoints on roads and in markets during routine outings has stoked panic.
Ali, a former Afghan security official who would give only his first name because of his immigrant status in Pakistan, said he and his neighbors — also Afghan migrants — had barely gone outside for two weeks, fearing getting arrested and being sent back to Afghanistan. If he is deported, he worries he faces arrest — or worse — because of his affiliation with the U.S.-backed government.
The new policy has in fact drawn criticism from human rights groups, which say deporting Afghans could put them at risk in Afghanistan. Despite the Taliban’s policy of blanket amnesty for Afghans who worked with the U.S.-backed government, human rights monitors have documented hundreds of abuses against former government officials since the Taliban seized power.
Pakistani officials have defended the policy as necessary to protect Pakistan from extremist violence. In a news conference on Tuesday, the Pakistani caretaker government’s interior minister, Sarfraz Bugti, asserted that Afghans were involved in 14 of the 24 major terrorist attacks in Pakistan this year.
“There are attacks on us from Afghanistan, and Afghan nationals are involved in those attacks,” he said. Taliban officials denied those claims.
An Afghan family near Peshawar, Pakistan, on Friday.
Credit...Abdul Majeed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The aggressive approach echoes similar crackdowns on Afghan migrants in years past, observers say. After a string of major terrorist attacks in 2016, the Pakistani authorities began a sweeping campaign to uproot Afghan migrants, forcing around 600,000 back to Afghanistan. Human Rights Watch characterized Pakistan’s actions as the world’s “largest unlawful mass forced return of refugees” in recent times.
“Afghans always get stuck when foreign relations break down between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” said Sanaa Alimia, researcher and author of “Refugee Cities: How Afghans Changed Urban Pakistan.”
“That usually manifests itself as harassment of ordinary Afghans in the country and those getting harassed are usually in the lowest income groups, they are an easy target,” she added.
Pakistan has not signed the 1951 Geneva Convention and its 1967 protocol covering the status of refugees, which protects people seeking asylum. Instead, Pakistan’s Foreigners’ Act grants the authorities the right to apprehend, detain and expel foreigners — including refugees and asylum seekers — who lack valid documentation.
After previous crackdowns, many Afghans have either remained in Pakistan or returned after being deported — underlining the limit of the Pakistani government’s ability to repatriate Afghans, experts say.
Now, with the government facing dueling economic and political crises, it is unclear how the Pakistani authorities would repatriate such a large number of refugees, a deportation campaign requiring substantial personnel as well as military and intelligence resources.
Maulvi Abdul Jabbar Takhari, the Taliban’s consul general in Karachi, said that many Afghans who had been arrested possess legal documents allowing them to live in Pakistan and that Taliban officials had been trying to secure their release.
Mr. Takhari, who lived as a refugee in Karachi for several years, urged Pakistan’s government “to provide a specific time frame for undocumented refugees so that they can peacefully and respectfully wind up their businesses and return to their homeland.”
But for Afghan migrants, the wave of arrests has been a chilling reminder of their precarious status in Pakistan. Many arrived in the country decades ago, after the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and after the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal.
Abdullah Bukhari, 51, came to Karachi in 1980 from Kunduz Province fleeing violence during the Soviet-Afghan war. The notion of uprooting his life in less than a month feels absurd and heartbreaking.
“How can they uproot everything in such a short period?” Mr. Bukhari asked. “We’ve spent our lives as refugees and amid conflict, but our biggest concern is for our children. They have never experienced Afghanistan even for a day.”
The aggressive approach echoes similar crackdowns on Afghan migrants in years past, observers say. After a string of major terrorist attacks in 2016, the Pakistani authorities began a sweeping campaign to uproot Afghan migrants, forcing around 600,000 back to Afghanistan. Human Rights Watch characterized Pakistan’s actions as the world’s “largest unlawful mass forced return of refugees” in recent times.
“Afghans always get stuck when foreign relations break down between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” said Sanaa Alimia, researcher and author of “Refugee Cities: How Afghans Changed Urban Pakistan.”
“That usually manifests itself as harassment of ordinary Afghans in the country and those getting harassed are usually in the lowest income groups, they are an easy target,” she added.
Pakistan has not signed the 1951 Geneva Convention and its 1967 protocol covering the status of refugees, which protects people seeking asylum. Instead, Pakistan’s Foreigners’ Act grants the authorities the right to apprehend, detain and expel foreigners — including refugees and asylum seekers — who lack valid documentation.
After previous crackdowns, many Afghans have either remained in Pakistan or returned after being deported — underlining the limit of the Pakistani government’s ability to repatriate Afghans, experts say.
Now, with the government facing dueling economic and political crises, it is unclear how the Pakistani authorities would repatriate such a large number of refugees, a deportation campaign requiring substantial personnel as well as military and intelligence resources.
Maulvi Abdul Jabbar Takhari, the Taliban’s consul general in Karachi, said that many Afghans who had been arrested possess legal documents allowing them to live in Pakistan and that Taliban officials had been trying to secure their release.
Mr. Takhari, who lived as a refugee in Karachi for several years, urged Pakistan’s government “to provide a specific time frame for undocumented refugees so that they can peacefully and respectfully wind up their businesses and return to their homeland.”
But for Afghan migrants, the wave of arrests has been a chilling reminder of their precarious status in Pakistan. Many arrived in the country decades ago, after the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and after the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal.
Abdullah Bukhari, 51, came to Karachi in 1980 from Kunduz Province fleeing violence during the Soviet-Afghan war. The notion of uprooting his life in less than a month feels absurd and heartbreaking.
“How can they uproot everything in such a short period?” Mr. Bukhari asked. “We’ve spent our lives as refugees and amid conflict, but our biggest concern is for our children. They have never experienced Afghanistan even for a day.”
At an Afghan refugee camp in Karachi.
Credit...Rizwan Tabassum/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Christina Goldbaum is the Afghanistan and Pakistan bureau chief for The Times.
Christina Goldbaum is the Afghanistan and Pakistan bureau chief for The Times.
October 08, 2023
Documented Afghan migrants in Karachi, Pakistan. (file photo)
Pakistan's order for all “illegal” Afghan migrants to leave the country has left millions -- including long-term residents and holders of valid documents -- living in fear of being forcibly returned to the country they fled.
Some 3.7 million Afghans fleeing war, poverty, and political upheaval in their homeland currently reside in Pakistan, according to the United Nations, with Islamabad putting the number as high as 4.4 million.
But Pakistani officials say that only about 1.4 million Afghans hold the necessary documentation -- largely Proof of Registration (PoR) cards -- allowing them to remain in Pakistan legally.
While Pakistan has insisted that its October 3 order that all unauthorized asylum-seekers must leave voluntarily or be deported by November 1 only affects 1.7 million "illegal migrants," the move by Islamabad has left Afghans, documented or not, worried that they will be forced to leave.
Many tell RFE/RL that their possession of official status does not spare Afghans, who make up the vast majority of migrants in Pakistan, from detention by the authorities.
"Every night, every day, in every corner of Pakistan, they detain immigrants who have legal documents," Nawid Shahab, an Afghan migrant, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi on October 4. "They detain migrants who have PoR cards, and they detain migrants who are undocumented. There is no difference between them."
Others with official status say they are subjected to shakedowns.
"Local police fleece money from us because we are Afghan refugees, even though we have our PoR cards," said Bahadar Khan, who has lived in the port city of Karachi for 35 years.
Pakistan's order for all “illegal” Afghan migrants to leave the country has left millions -- including long-term residents and holders of valid documents -- living in fear of being forcibly returned to the country they fled.
Some 3.7 million Afghans fleeing war, poverty, and political upheaval in their homeland currently reside in Pakistan, according to the United Nations, with Islamabad putting the number as high as 4.4 million.
But Pakistani officials say that only about 1.4 million Afghans hold the necessary documentation -- largely Proof of Registration (PoR) cards -- allowing them to remain in Pakistan legally.
While Pakistan has insisted that its October 3 order that all unauthorized asylum-seekers must leave voluntarily or be deported by November 1 only affects 1.7 million "illegal migrants," the move by Islamabad has left Afghans, documented or not, worried that they will be forced to leave.
Many tell RFE/RL that their possession of official status does not spare Afghans, who make up the vast majority of migrants in Pakistan, from detention by the authorities.
"Every night, every day, in every corner of Pakistan, they detain immigrants who have legal documents," Nawid Shahab, an Afghan migrant, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi on October 4. "They detain migrants who have PoR cards, and they detain migrants who are undocumented. There is no difference between them."
Others with official status say they are subjected to shakedowns.
"Local police fleece money from us because we are Afghan refugees, even though we have our PoR cards," said Bahadar Khan, who has lived in the port city of Karachi for 35 years.
Detained Afghan immigrants in Karachi last month.
And even those with long-established roots in Pakistan express fear that they now face deportation to a "home" country they never lived in.
"I’m married with two children. I was born here in Pakistan and have never been to Afghanistan in my life," Naseer Ahmad, a resident of Karachi whose family has lived in Pakistan for 45 years, told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal. "But now, after the government decision, I will be forced to leave."
Abbas Khan, Pakistan's commissioner of Afghan refugees, dismissed suggestions that Afghans bearing legal documentation would be targeted by this week's order.
"Afghans holding PoR cards number around 1.4 million. And police can't arrest someone who has a PoR card," Khan told Radio Mashaal on October 4.
However, he suggested that those holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC), separate identification documents that had allowed Afghan asylum-seekers to remain in Pakistan, could now be subject to the new order.
"Another 800,000 Afghans have Afghan Citizen Cards," he said, explaining that they were given to undocumented Afghans in 2016 in cooperation among the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "They agreed that those citizens would be gradually returned to Afghanistan. But that did not happen."
A Popular Refuge
Pakistan has been a popular refuge for Afghans for decades, beginning during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation. Others fled fighting during the ensuing Afghan civil war and the Taliban's first stint in power from 1996 to 2001. Millions of Afghans returned to their homeland following the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban from power.
But after the Taliban seized power again in 2021 amid the withdrawal of international forces, an estimated 700,000 more Afghans left for Pakistan to escape a devastating economic and humanitarian crisis and possible retribution by the Taliban.
The result, Pakistani caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti claimed on October 3, is that 1.7 million Afghans are now in the country "illegally."
"Anyone living in the country illegally must go back," he said in announcing the order. "If they do not go... then all the law enforcement agencies in the provinces or federal government will be utilized to deport them."
Bugti also said that, after November 1, law enforcement agencies would confiscate the properties and businesses of illegal migrants. He said Afghans will only be allowed to travel to Pakistan using valid passports and visas, which many Afghans have experienced difficulties obtaining under the Taliban.
While Bugti said that the crackdown was not aimed specifically at Afghans, it was clear they would be the most affected group of migrants in Pakistan.
International law enshrines the right to seek refuge in a foreign country, and rights watchdogs have criticized the move by Pakistan to force asylum-seekers to leave.
Zaman Soltani, a South Asia researcher at Amnesty International, told Radio Azadi on October 4 that Islamabad should immediately reverse its decision.
"We demand that any forced deportation of migrants and those who seek asylum be halted," Soltani said. "Those who fled Afghanistan are asking for asylum and protection in Pakistan.”
“Most of these asylum seekers are former government employees, activists, journalists, or others who are facing threats, torture, and detention by the Taliban in Afghanistan," Soltani added.
The action comes amid increasing tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban, with the Pakistani government claiming that its territory has come under attack by Taliban-allied militants who shelter across the border in Afghanistan.
This has led to speculation that Islamabad's order, made by a caretaker government that is expected to rule until elections are held in January, is a response to the attacks.
In his interview with Radio Mashaal, Khan suggested that the increased number of illegal Afghan migrants following the Taliban's return to power in Kabul in 2021 has created concerns about their possible role in instability in border regions.
"I would not say that they are responsible for the law and order situation," Khan said. "But I can say that when larger number of foreigners live in a country and they don't have legal documents, that creates doubts. And that creates problems even for the genuine refugees."
Khan added that "as far as our office is concerned, we have not seen any involvement of any registered Afghan refugees in terrorism."
Bugti, the interior minister, did directly reference two deadly attacks that took place last week in southwestern and northwestern Pakistan along the country’s 2,600-kilometer border with Afghanistan as reasons for the government's order for unauthorized Afghans to leave the country.
The Taliban has said that Pakistan's plans to push out Afghans was "unacceptable." “Afghan refugees are not involved in Pakistan’s security problems," Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on October 4 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Afghan Embassy in Islamabad has said that Pakistani counterterrorism police have detained about 1,000 Afghan refugees over the past two weeks. Some 800 were detained in the capital in a single day, the Taliban-led Afghan Refugee Council in Pakistan told Radio Azadi, of which about half who had valid travel or residency documents were subsequently released.
Some 200 illegal Afghans were arrested during a roundup in the southwestern Balochistan Province, where one of the two attacks took place last week, according to regional government representative Hamza Shafqat.
In a separate announcement in the provincial capital, Quetta, on October 4, caretaker Information Minister Jan Muhammad Achakzai alleged that "of the 24 suicide attacks carried out in Pakistan in 2023, Afghans were in involved in 14 attacks."
An elder at the Quetta Muslim Bagh Refugee Camp, Malak Nadar Khan, denied in comments to Radio Mashaal that Afghans were involved in terrorism in Pakistan.
"We are peaceful people. We are not involved in terrorism. We request the government to withdraw its decision to forcefully expel Afghan refugees."
And even those with long-established roots in Pakistan express fear that they now face deportation to a "home" country they never lived in.
"I’m married with two children. I was born here in Pakistan and have never been to Afghanistan in my life," Naseer Ahmad, a resident of Karachi whose family has lived in Pakistan for 45 years, told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal. "But now, after the government decision, I will be forced to leave."
Abbas Khan, Pakistan's commissioner of Afghan refugees, dismissed suggestions that Afghans bearing legal documentation would be targeted by this week's order.
"Afghans holding PoR cards number around 1.4 million. And police can't arrest someone who has a PoR card," Khan told Radio Mashaal on October 4.
However, he suggested that those holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC), separate identification documents that had allowed Afghan asylum-seekers to remain in Pakistan, could now be subject to the new order.
"Another 800,000 Afghans have Afghan Citizen Cards," he said, explaining that they were given to undocumented Afghans in 2016 in cooperation among the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "They agreed that those citizens would be gradually returned to Afghanistan. But that did not happen."
A Popular Refuge
Pakistan has been a popular refuge for Afghans for decades, beginning during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation. Others fled fighting during the ensuing Afghan civil war and the Taliban's first stint in power from 1996 to 2001. Millions of Afghans returned to their homeland following the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban from power.
But after the Taliban seized power again in 2021 amid the withdrawal of international forces, an estimated 700,000 more Afghans left for Pakistan to escape a devastating economic and humanitarian crisis and possible retribution by the Taliban.
The result, Pakistani caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti claimed on October 3, is that 1.7 million Afghans are now in the country "illegally."
"Anyone living in the country illegally must go back," he said in announcing the order. "If they do not go... then all the law enforcement agencies in the provinces or federal government will be utilized to deport them."
Bugti also said that, after November 1, law enforcement agencies would confiscate the properties and businesses of illegal migrants. He said Afghans will only be allowed to travel to Pakistan using valid passports and visas, which many Afghans have experienced difficulties obtaining under the Taliban.
While Bugti said that the crackdown was not aimed specifically at Afghans, it was clear they would be the most affected group of migrants in Pakistan.
International law enshrines the right to seek refuge in a foreign country, and rights watchdogs have criticized the move by Pakistan to force asylum-seekers to leave.
Zaman Soltani, a South Asia researcher at Amnesty International, told Radio Azadi on October 4 that Islamabad should immediately reverse its decision.
"We demand that any forced deportation of migrants and those who seek asylum be halted," Soltani said. "Those who fled Afghanistan are asking for asylum and protection in Pakistan.”
“Most of these asylum seekers are former government employees, activists, journalists, or others who are facing threats, torture, and detention by the Taliban in Afghanistan," Soltani added.
The action comes amid increasing tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban, with the Pakistani government claiming that its territory has come under attack by Taliban-allied militants who shelter across the border in Afghanistan.
This has led to speculation that Islamabad's order, made by a caretaker government that is expected to rule until elections are held in January, is a response to the attacks.
In his interview with Radio Mashaal, Khan suggested that the increased number of illegal Afghan migrants following the Taliban's return to power in Kabul in 2021 has created concerns about their possible role in instability in border regions.
"I would not say that they are responsible for the law and order situation," Khan said. "But I can say that when larger number of foreigners live in a country and they don't have legal documents, that creates doubts. And that creates problems even for the genuine refugees."
Khan added that "as far as our office is concerned, we have not seen any involvement of any registered Afghan refugees in terrorism."
Bugti, the interior minister, did directly reference two deadly attacks that took place last week in southwestern and northwestern Pakistan along the country’s 2,600-kilometer border with Afghanistan as reasons for the government's order for unauthorized Afghans to leave the country.
The Taliban has said that Pakistan's plans to push out Afghans was "unacceptable." “Afghan refugees are not involved in Pakistan’s security problems," Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on October 4 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Afghan Embassy in Islamabad has said that Pakistani counterterrorism police have detained about 1,000 Afghan refugees over the past two weeks. Some 800 were detained in the capital in a single day, the Taliban-led Afghan Refugee Council in Pakistan told Radio Azadi, of which about half who had valid travel or residency documents were subsequently released.
Some 200 illegal Afghans were arrested during a roundup in the southwestern Balochistan Province, where one of the two attacks took place last week, according to regional government representative Hamza Shafqat.
In a separate announcement in the provincial capital, Quetta, on October 4, caretaker Information Minister Jan Muhammad Achakzai alleged that "of the 24 suicide attacks carried out in Pakistan in 2023, Afghans were in involved in 14 attacks."
An elder at the Quetta Muslim Bagh Refugee Camp, Malak Nadar Khan, denied in comments to Radio Mashaal that Afghans were involved in terrorism in Pakistan.
"We are peaceful people. We are not involved in terrorism. We request the government to withdraw its decision to forcefully expel Afghan refugees."
Written by Michael Scollon based on reporting by Niaz Ali Khan of RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal and Jawid Naimi of RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.
Niaz Ali Khan is a journalist with RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal.
Jawid Naimi is a journalist with RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.
No comments:
Post a Comment