Tag: Afghanistan

  • More than 250,000 illegal Afghan citizens have returned to their homeland

    More than 250,000 illegal Afghan citizens have returned to their homeland

    The process of repatriating undocumented Afghan citizens to Afghanistan is underway across Pakistan.

    So far, two lacs 55 thousand and 29 illegal residents have returned from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Afghanistan.

    According to the Interior Department, a total of 250, 814 immigrants have gone back to Afghanistan via Torkham, while 3,516 people have returned to their homeland through Angoot Ada border and 698 people have returned to their homeland from Kharlachi border.

    According to the data of the Immigration Department, 255,029 immigrants from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have returned to Afghanistan.

  • 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.

  • Pakistan imposes hefty exit fees on Afghan refugees

    Pakistan is being widely criticised for instituting exit fees amounting to hundreds of dollars for Afghan refugees awaiting relocation to the United Kingdom and other Western nations.

    The imposition of exit fees, totalling around $830 (PKR 236,387), for Afghan refugees seeking resettlement in Western countries has drawn strong condemnation from Western diplomats and the United Nations.

    Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign ministry, stated that there are no current plans to modify the existing policy.

    Five senior Western diplomats in Pakistan while talking to The Guardian termed the hefty fee imposed by Pakistan as ‘unprecedented’.

    “I know it is very tough economically for Pakistan but really, to try to make money off refugees is unattractive,” said one diplomat.

    He continued by adding, “The issue has also been raised by the two UN agencies in the lead on this mess, the [UN refugee agency] UNHCR and [International Organization of Migration] IOM,” the diplomat added. “It has also been raised in capitals and headquarters. I suspect everyone has also passed the message to their [Pakistani contacts].”

    Another diplomat said that when concerns were raised regarding the imposed fee, the Pakistani officials explained that the initial proposal was to charge $10,000 per person, but it had been subsequently reduced to $830.

    A different diplomat noted that the exit permit must be paid through a credit card, which poses an added difficulty for many Afghan refugees who lack access to such payment methods. This complicates the situation further, as the fee is mandated for payment by the refugees, a considerable portion of whom do not possess credit cards.

    “I think we need a cooperative approach of working together to help the refugees and we expect Pakistan would help,” he added.

    The United States government intends to relocate nearly 25,000 Afghans within the country, while the United Kingdom has announced plans to resettle 20,000 individuals.

    Separately, the United Nations Refugee Agency has expressed apprehension regarding Pakistan’s directive for undocumented foreigners to leave, citing its adverse impact on Afghan nationals. This includes registered refugees and individuals possessing valid documents, raising concerns about the potential humanitarian consequences of the orders.

  • 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.”

  • ‘Be considerate’: Hasan Raheem outraged at racist comment about Afghan cricket team

    ‘Be considerate’: Hasan Raheem outraged at racist comment about Afghan cricket team

    Tuesday’s World Cup thriller between Afghanistan and Australia ended with the latter grabbing victory from the former after Glen Maxwell’s blistering knock of 201 runs.

    As X (formerly Twitter) became flooded with memes and tweets about Maxwell’s performance, one user went viral for celebrating the loss of the Afghan cricket team by comparing it to the ongoing illegal deportations of Afghan refugees. The user wrote:

    “Afghanistan to World Cup se bhi deport ho gaya.”

    The comment drew outrage from Twitter users, including singer Hasan Raheem who quoted the tweet and responded:

    Zunaira Imam, the wife of actor and director Usman Mukhtar expressed her disdain over the insensitive tweet by writing:

    “This is not funny. This is not a joke. People are suffering right now. Our policies are not only harming Afghans but also Pashtuns who are being wrongfully incarcerated or deported. People’s pain and hardship should not be the punchline for a joke.”

    Right now, more than 100,000 Afghan refugees are detained in holding centres despite most of them being registered in Pakistan. Aurat March has highlighted cases such as that of a 17-year-old boy who was picked up and deported without informing his family.

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

    In light of the trauma Afghan families face with the on-going deportations, X users were aghast at the insensitivity of the tweet. Especially when Pakistanis are championing the right for Palestinians to be given back their land.

  • ‘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

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

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

    In a series of video documents and reports released by the organization’s Lahore Chapter, a number of Pakistani Pashtuns are seen talking about how they are being taken in to deportation centres because they ‘look Afghan’. Their minor children, and in one case an Afghan’s wife and a two-month-old baby, been taken to holding centres in multiple raids conducted by the police.

    The victims, visibly distressed, are complaining about the lack of information and resources as they do not know where the detainees are being taken and why. Some of them are being told that they will be taken to the borders for deportation because they do not hold registration cards and are assumed illegal by the government, even though their guardians hold the required documents.

    There are incidents of minor legal document holders being deported too. One such example is 16-year-old Mansour, brother of Yaseen who holds a PoR card but he says the police have confiscated it from him putting him at further risk. The child is being sent on a bus to the border.

    Aurat March is claiming that there is a large number of poor Pakistani Pashtuns running from one police station to the other, trying to prove with their CNICs and birth certificates of their detained children, that they are legal citizens and not illegal immigrants.

    Unfortunately, as confirmed by Aurat March, a video of a man doing rounds on social media where he is being told by the authorities that his son, a 17-year-old has been sent to Afghanistan after being picked up in a raid in Karachi, is true.

    In another video, a man from Waziristan, a Pakistani citizen is showing his child’s birth certificate, which was missing a day ago and has received a call from his son who is now sent to Chaman for deportation. He goes on to prove his citizenship by showing his Watan card and the ID cards of his deceased father and brother too. He alleges that the money and the photocopy of the father’s ID card had been snatched away from the kid by the police.

    Activist Mehrub Awan posted on X a video of a police officer outside the Sultanabad detention centre stating that “The Pakistanis deported accidentally can’t be brought back”.

    Lawyer Moniza Kakar, while talking to The Current, explains that the number of 1.7 million as stated by the government is a vague one, and the number is not definite since registration of Afghans stopped when the Taliban took over. All those who entered Pakistan after that were given a token which has no legal status. Consequently, they also can’t have access to any legal shelter. Even then, petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court and Sindh High Court where Lawyers Umer Gilani and Sara Malkani will be representing.
    Many, including women and children, are being confused by authorities, allegedly for having an accent or looking similar to Afghans, said Kakar.

    The government, however, is silent, raising questions over the transparency of the system and the very rushed way in which the process is being conducted. We have reached out to the interior ministry for a comment but they have not responded.

  • Pakistan should not make more enemies, cautions Taliban Refugee Minister

    Pakistan should not make more enemies, cautions Taliban Refugee Minister

    The Taliban government’s refugees minister, Khalil Haqqani, has said in an interview with AFP that, “They [Pakis­tani authorities] should not give Afghans a hard time, they should not make more enemies.” The statement was said in the context of the mass exodus of refugees from Pakistan under the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan.

    Authorities on the Afghanistan side have established centres several kilometres from a border crossing along with camps for families in what was described as an “emergency situation” by the Afghan officials. “We are constantly in contact with them [Pakis­tani authorities] asking for more time. People must be allowed to return with dignity,” he reiterated.

    Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Salam Hanafi also visited the Torkham border and asserted that the deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan is in violation of International laws. He also mentioned that the ones coming back are their brethren and this is their home. To address all their problems will be the first priority of the government.