Tag: Afghan children

  • More than half a million Afghans return from Pakistan

    More than half a million Afghans return from Pakistan

    More than 500,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan in the four months since Islamabad ordered undocumented migrants to leave or face arrest, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Monday.

    According to the latest figures reported by the UN migration agency, 500,200 Afghans left Pakistan between September 15, 2023 and January 13, 2024.

    Most rushed to the border in the days leading up to a November 1 exit deadline Islamabad set for the 1.7 million Afghans it said were living illegally in Pakistan, and as police opened dozens of holding centres.

    “Since the initial peak around November 1, the number of individuals crossing these official border points have consistently decreased but remains higher than pre-September 15th,” an IOM statement said.

    Pakistan defended the crackdown by pointing to security concerns in its regions bordering Afghanistan and pressure on its struggling economy.

    “Some Afghans forced to return may be at risk of persecution, arbitrary arrest and detention and/or torture or ill-treatment,” the UN’s Afghan mission said in a report on Monday.

    Meanwhile, the busiest border crossing between the two countries remained closed for the tenth day running in a dispute over document rules for commercial drivers.

    The row centres on demands for drivers from both sides to have visas and passports — documents many Afghans do not have — as Pakistan cracks down on cross-border movements.

    More than 400 trucks were stranded on the Pakistan side of the Torkham crossing on Monday, according to a border official who asked not to be named.

    Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have grown increasingly fraught in recent months, with Islamabad accusing the Taliban government of failing to root out militants staging attacks in Pakistan from their soil.

    Kabul has always rejected the allegations.

    Millions of Afghans fleeing conflict have poured into Pakistan over the past four decades, including some 600,000 since the Taliban ousted the US-backed government and imposed its harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

    Some of the Afghans crossing into Afghanistan as a result of Islamabad’s eviction scheme were entering the country for the first time, having lived their whole lives in Pakistan.

    Upon arrival, migrants have received modest assistance from the government and NGOs in a country contending with one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

  • Angelina Jolie slams global hypocrisy on human rights

    Hollywood A-lister and human rights activist Angelina Jolie, has talked about the hypocrisy in the world when it comes to human rights application.

    “The world is suffering from ambivalence on the issue of human rights,” she remarked in a recent interview.

    Jolie lamented the duplicity and discrimination of the world regarding human rights, saying that the scale of human rights is different for everyone, the fact is that the world works on business interests. Her comments come on the heels of her unequivocal demand for a ceasefire of Israeli attacks on Gaza.

    “Human rights can be for some people and some people can never be. Accountability for some people’s crime and not at all for some people, this is the ugly face of the world.”
    The actress said that she does not know of any country in the world which is free from these things.

    “Some people think that the colonial system has ended but the fact is that the control and exploitation of developing countries is still going on,” the actress observed.

    In her statement about Gaza, the Hollywood actress said that what happened in Israel cannot be a justification for bombing the civilian population of Gaza, pointing out that a few trucks cannot meet the aid needs of the besieged population, more than 20,000 of whom have been killed by Israel while the rest are at risk of starvation and disease.

    Angelina Jolie added that Gaza has a total population of two million, half of whom are children, who have been living under siege for two decades.

  • Afghan migrants barred from supporting or funding elections

    The Ministry of Interior announced on Monday that Afghan migrants are barred from supporting candidates in the upcoming general elections scheduled for February 8 next year.

    The caretaker government, citing security concerns, has initiated a nationwide campaign to expel millions of illegal foreigners, predominantly Afghan citizens, residing in the country.

    The Ministry of Interior specified that both illegal and “legal” Afghans residing in Pakistan are prohibited from funding political and electoral activities, including providing funds to any candidate, in the upcoming polls.

    “Any Afghan citizen involved in such activities will be deported regardless of his or her legal status in Pakistan,” it stated.

    Pakistanis were also cautioned not to provide employment to illegal aliens or assist such individuals in obtaining employment.

    “Information about any such illegal alien or the person providing employment to him should be provided to the Ministry of Interior for legal action on the helpline available on the website of the Ministry.”

    Of the over four million Afghans in Pakistan, an estimated 1.7 million are undocumented, many having fled their war-torn country during decades of internal conflict, with another exodus occurring after the Taliban’s takeover in 2021.

    While the government asserts that its policy targets all illegal aliens, irrespective of nationality or ethnicity, human rights organizations, including the UN, have expressed concerns, emphasizing the importance of a “voluntary” return.

    Amidst the ongoing efforts, several Pakistani politicians and Human Rights activists have approached the Supreme Court, seeking judicial intervention against the caretaker government’s deportation of illegal foreign nationals, including Afghans.

  • No ‘illegal alien’ sent back on Friday thanks to verification process installed by Afghan Consulate General

    For the first time since the start of the repatriation plan of undocumented immigrants early this month, not a single ‘illegal alien’ was sent home via Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday as Afghan authorities has announced to link the acceptance of deportations with the verification of their status by the Afghan consulate-general here.

    The decision was made after multiple cases of Afghan-looking Pakistanis being deported to Afghanistan surfaced. “Multiple cases of Pakistanis being sent to Afghanistan as illegal migrants have been reported,” an official source in the Afghan Consulate told Dawn.

    Unfortunately, whenever Afghan authorities took such Pakistanis to the border, Pakistani officials refused to receive them.

    The other reason stated by Afghan consulate is the harassment Afghan deportees are facing at the hands of Pakistani authorities even though many of them are repatriating voluntarily.

    “Many illegal aliens are leaving Pakistan voluntarily but they’re stopped and taken into custody on their way before their repartition. They’re not given time to carry their belongings,” an official told Dawn.

    Afghan consulate expressed concern over the separation of families that has been observed over the month. They said in “many” cases, men from undocumented families were deported, leaving behind their female dependants.

    Pakistani authorities have said that they have not been informed about the deportation condition, claiming that all allegations leveled by Afghan consulate are “baseless”, delaying the process of deportation.

    “Only deportation is linked with the verification letter. The voluntary repatriation is still continuing without any hurdle,” Pakistan responded.

    However, around 119 illegal migrants were deported from Punjab to Afghanistan via the Torkham border crossing on Thursday, according to officials.

  • Supreme Court will hear petition against deportation of Afghan refugees

    Supreme Court will hear petition against deportation of Afghan refugees

    In a significant development on Monday, the Supreme Court decided to entertain a petition challenging the government’s move to force out Afghan refugees from the country. The decision comes after the Supreme Court Registrar’s Office initially raised objections to the petition’s maintainability, putting a temporary halt on its progress.

    Despite the decision to entertain the petition, a specific date for the hearing is yet to be announced. According to sources, Justice Yahya Afridi of the Supreme Court heard the appeal against the objections in his chamber on Monday, as confirmed by a counsel for the petitioners.

    Mohsin Dawar took to X (former Twitter) and said, “We appeared before Justice Yahya Afridi for the Chamber Appeal against the Registrar’s objection on our petition against the mass deportation of Afghan Refugees. Our appeal has been accepted and the petition will be heard by the Supreme Court.”

    The petition, returned by the Supreme Court Registrar’s Office on November 8, faced objections related to its maintainability. One notable objection was the absence of a specific question of public importance regarding the enforcement of fundamental rights as guaranteed under the Constitution, warranting the invocation of Article 184(3).

    In response to the objections, the petitioners contended that their case raised critical issues pertaining to fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. The appeal, filed by Umer Ijaz Gillani on behalf of human rights activists and politicians, argued that the issues presented in the petition are essential for safeguarding the rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

    “The issues raised in the petition are critical for securing the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution,” stated the appeal. It emphasized the need to prevent constitutional promises from becoming mere rhetoric, asserting, “The promises contained in the Constitution must never be allowed to become mere verbiage, the harbingers of false hope.”

    The petitioners include prominent figures such as Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan Senator Mushtaq Ahmed, Human rights activist Amina Masood Janjua, National Democratic Movement Chairman Mohsin Dawar, lawyer Jibran Nasir, Rohail Kasi, Syed Muaz Shah, Pastor Ghazala Parveen, lawyer Iman Zainab Mazari, Ahmad Shabbar, Advocate Imran Shafiq, Luke Victor, and Sijal Shafiq.

    The petitioners stated in their press release on Sunday, “After 18 days of eager wait and continuous legal struggle, the Supreme Court has finally fixed our Case against the Caretaker Government’s Mass Deportation drive for a preliminary hearing. The hearing will be conducted by a 1-member bench comprising Mr. Justice Yahya Afridi inside his Chamber. It is scheduled for 1:00 pm on Monday, 20th November, 2023.

    Needless to say that under Article 184(3), the principal responsibility for taking charge of the situation and preventing systemic violation of fundamental rights vests in the Court itself. The petitioners’ role is that of informants who apprise the Court about what is happening and prick its judicial conscience.

    What has been happening to scores of people since October 3, when this draconian Deportation Drive was launched by a government lacking all mandate, is clear to all and sundry. However, in order to assist the Court in discharge of its sacred duty, the counsel for the Petitioners will appear before the bench.”

    The government of Pakistan decided to deport all the illegal aliens from the country early in October.

    A vast majority of them are Afghans who were given a deadline of November 1 to leave the country voluntarily or else there would be a crackdown.

    The government has identified phases in which these Afghan immigrants will be repatriated under the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan.

    There is a large number of 1.7 million Afgan refugees which the government aims to repatriate in the first phase of the plan. More than 200,000 of them have been repatriated until now.

    Aurat March protests

    Aurat March Lahore reiterated its demand that the Government of Pakistan immediately halt deportations of Afghan refugees, during a protest on Saturday.

    The protestors further stated that the hastily imposed 1 November expulsion deadline is an authoritarian decision that exceeds the caretaker government’s limited constitutional mandate. It effectively overturned decades of refugee policy overnight without accountability or transparency.

    Furthermore, the ill-thought-out decision has resulted in the denial of Afghan refugees’ rights to liberty,due process, and, in many cases, citizenship.

    On 29 October 2023, Aurat March chapters from across the country marked their protest and addressed an open letter urging the caretaker Prime Minister, Anwar ul Haq Kakar, to reverse his decision.

    However, this caretaker government has failed to yield to these demands and has since doubled down on its decision by announcing that the second phase of deportations will be of “documented” refugees.

    Aurat March stated, “We refuse this insidious distinction between “documented” and “undocumented” refugees; all refugees have the non-derogable right to non-refoulement and deserve support, not persecution.”

  • Angelina Jolie ‘saddened’ by forced deportation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan

    Angelina Jolie ‘saddened’ by forced deportation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan

    Angelina Jolie has always been one for speaking her mind. The Hollywood A-lister and UNHCR ambassador won hearts globally when she openly criticised the Israeli regime for air strikes on Gaza which has claimed countless innocent lives. Now, she has spoken out against the deportation of 1. (www.enov8.com) 4 million Afghan refugees from Pakistan.

    Reporters have said that they are banned from taking pictures of detention centres or to speak with any of the captives, and several families have reported that their children were being picked up despite having a birth certificate.

    Sharing clips of Afghan families and children stranded at the border, Angelina called this an example of “the backsliding in human rights globally,” on her Instagram.

    “Pakistan has been a supporter for many Afghan refugee families for decades. I am saddened they would so abruptly push back refugees who face the impossible realities of trying to survive in today’s Afghanistan, where women have again been deprived of all rights and the possibility of education, many are being imprisoned, and there is a deep humanitarian crisis.

    It is yet another example of the backsliding in human rights globally, and is a new tragedy in the long history of the suffering of Afghan people – who have experienced nothing but war and conflict and displacement for over forty years, and are being abandoned by the world after all the promises that were made of a better future for the Afghan people.”

  • ‘No one leaves their home by choice’: Mahira Khan appeals for Afghan refugees

    ‘No one leaves their home by choice’: Mahira Khan appeals for Afghan refugees

    Actress and UN ambassador Mahira Khan joins the rallying cry to protect Afghan refugees from deportations. Right now, Aurat March reports several Pakistani Pushtuns were picked up and taken to deportation centers because they ‘looked Afghan’.

    READ MORE: ‘Afghan-looking’ Pakistanis taken to holding centres for deportation, says Aurat March

    The ‘Humsafar’ actress shared pictures wearing her UNICEF vest and standing next to women. In the caption she wrote:

    “No one leaves their home behind by choice.
    Here in Pakistan, I’ve been proud of our tradition of hospitality towards those in search of safety, dignity and respect.
    For over 40 years we have provided safety to our Afghan brothers and sisters in need.

    There are people who are still in need of our kindness and compassion, who are at risk if they return.

    I appeal to my government to continue to support those who need it.”

    Several prominent celebrities have raised their voices as gruesome stories of the brutal treatment of Afghan refugees arrive from activists. Sanam Saeed appealed to the Pakistani government to show mercy to those seeking a better life. She wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

    “Deporting refugees who seek shelter here will not make our fundamental issues go away. It looks like we are deflecting blame from challenges that the govt or the country overall is facing. At a time like this in the world right now, we need to show more mercy.”

    READ MORE: ‘Show more mercy’: Sanam Saeed calls for Pakistani government to stop deporting Afghan refugees

  • ‘This is so sad’: Armeena Khan calls for end to Afghan refugees deportation

    ‘This is so sad’: Armeena Khan calls for end to Afghan refugees deportation

    Pakistani actress Armeena Khan has called for an end to the deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Armeena wrote:

    “It would be CRIMINAL of me not to talk about 1.7 million Afghans who are being displaced from Pakistan, their homes being bull dozed. This is absolutely vile! How can we treat them this way? I cannot talk about Gaza without talking about the plight of the Afghans. This is so sad.”

    When a user tried to school her, Armeena slammed him on the double standards of Pakistanis who are protesting for a Free Palestine but on the other hand, are pushing Afghan refugees out of their country.

    “People like you are no different than the war mongering factions of the Israelites. Two sides of the same coin. Spare the Palestinians your hypocrisy. The Pakistani Afghans are also your Muslim brothers and sisters.”

    Veteran actress and model Iffat Omar also joined in by sharing a picture of a boy stranded on a truck and writing in the caption “This is really heart breaking.”

  • Taliban Calls For More Time For Afghans To Leave Pakistan

    Afghanistan’s Taliban government has urged Pakistan to allow undocumented Afghans in the country more time to leave as pressure mounts at border posts swarmed by thousands of returnees fleeing the threat of deportation.

    Islamabad has given 1.7 million Afghans it says are living illegally in the country until November 1 to leave voluntarily or be forcibly removed.

    More than 130,000 people have left Pakistan since the order was given at the start of October, according to border officials in the towns of Torkham and Chaman, creating bottlenecks at either sides of crossings.

    In a statement late Tuesday, Taliban authorities thanked Pakistan and other countries that have hosted millions of Afghans who fled their country during decades of conflict, but “asked them to not forcibly deport Afghans with little notice but to give them time to prepare”.

    Since taking power in 2021, the Taliban government has urged Afghans to return home, but has also condemned Pakistan’s actions, saying nationals are being punished for tensions between Islamabad and Kabul, and calling for people to be given more time to depart.

    Read more: All you need to know about Afghans being sent from Pakistan

  • ‘Show more mercy’: Sanam Saeed calls for Pakistani government to stop deporting Afghan refugees

    ‘Show more mercy’: Sanam Saeed calls for Pakistani government to stop deporting Afghan refugees

    The Pakistani government is set to deport more than 90,000 Afghan refugees by November 1, prompting protests among civil rights activists. Actors, too, are condemning the expulsion. Viral videos show Afghan children in tears as they say goodbye to their friends, expressing sadness over being deported.

    Actress Sanam Saeed has appealed to the government of Pakistan asking that in light of circumstances around the world, Pakistanis must extend their kindness to people seeking shelter in this country.

    “Deporting refugees who seek shelter here will not make our fundamental issues go away. It looks like we are deflecting blame from challenges that the govt or the country overall is facing. At a time like this in the world right now, we need to show more mercy.”

    Veteran actress Nadia Jamil expressed her outrage over a post showing how Afghan children were taken to court and treated as criminals. She shared Osman Khalid Butt’s post and wrote “Statelessness. Their crime is their families Afghan refugee past. Most of them were born here.”

    Columnist Fatima Bhutto shared a video of an Afghan child tearfully saying goodbye to his classmates as he was set to be deported. In the caption she wrote:
    “This is just wrong of Pakistan. It’s inhumane. We must protect the Afghan refugees of this country and allow them a chance to rebuild their lives.”