Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have rounded up hundreds of undocumented Afghan refugees as the deadline for them to leave the country has ended.
In an unprecedented move to target the 1.7 million Afghan nationals in Pakistan, the Islamabad government has formulated a phase-wise process for the expulsion of undocumented refugees.
Special holding centres have been established in and around the border areas with Afghanistan, where the undocumented Afghan nationals will be held before being transported to the border and sent back to their home country.
The step has been criticised, questioned and termed as inhumane by rights activists and advocacy groups, raising serious queries over the decision to forcibly expel hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals and families against their free will.
“I am 35 years old, I was born in Pakistan. My three kids were born here. I was running a small business in a junkyard. I have no family or house to go back to in Afghanistan. I do not know anything about Afghanistan. I don’t even know how will the Taliban treat me and family,” said Jamal Khan, an undocumented Afghan national currently at the Landi Kotal holding centre near the Torkham border.
“I have spent years in Pakistan and have settled here. Now, they suddenly are forcing me to leave,” he added.
Jamal said, “We (Afghans) are not the enemies of Pakistan. We are brothers of Pakistan”.
“We have been treated so nicely by the people here that is why we have lived here for decades. But now, it seems the government looks at us as aliens, as terrorists… I ask you… look at my little kids and tell me if they are terrorists or aliens… they are not.. they are innocent… we are innocent… yet, we are being thrown back to the land we do not know or have any idea about. How will our families survive there? How can this be justified?” he asked.
Jamal is among the many who travelled from their respective refugee camp towards the Torkham border in transport trucks, paying them hefty charges.
On the other hand, the Pakistan government maintains that to date, about 140,322 people have already left voluntarily, while other undocumented Afghan nationals would be taken into custody before being verified on their status before being sent back to Afghanistan.
“A process to arrest the foreigners.. for deportation has started as of November 1. Voluntary return would still be encouraged,” read a statement from the Interior Ministry in Islamabad.
Pakistan has ignored calls from the UN, rights groups and Western countries to reconsider its rigid decision and has maintained that it is doing what it has to amid security concerns.
A crackdown is underway in all parts of Pakistan.
In Karachi, the police have rounded up at least 74 people and moved them to the holding centres.
Eyewitnesses said that they saw police vehicles bringing Afghan nationals to the centres.
Moreover, about 7,000 Afghans left for Afghanistan Wednesday through the Torkham border.
Officials said that 115 illegal Afghans — 64 incarcerated in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, and 51 in Peshawar Central Jail — were also deported via the Torkham border.
The overwhelming exodus of Afghan nationals from the borders into Afghanistan has put immense pressure on the Taliban regime in Kabul, who have declared the situation at the Torkham border crossing as a state of emergency.
The situation remains almost the same on all border crossings from Pakistan into Afghanistan as long queues of buses and waiting for clearances have flooded the areas with thousands of people, who are more likely to spend days and nights under the open sky as all the points routinely close at 9pm every night.
The Taliban regime has raised serious concerns and reservations about the mishandling, mismanagement and lack of facilitation for the undocumented Afghan nationals, stating that reports about mistreatment of many families by the Pakistani authorities have come to the fore.
Many Afghan nationals also complained that police authorities have forced them to leave their homes with families, despite the fact that they had the Afghan Refugee Registration card.
“The police officials took my card and cut it with a knife and then forced me and my family to go with them. They are even arresting those who are registered, discarding their legal documents,” said Samiullah, another Afghan national at Landi Kotal holding centre.
“Now that we have been thrown in these holding centres with limited facilities, they have demolished our houses and camps, leaving no option for us to go back to our homes in Pakistan refugee camps.
“So now, even if they verify us as registered in Pakistan, they leave nothing for us to go back to here and are throwing us away to a country, where we have nothing to go to,” he added.
Rights organisations have termed the decision by the Pakistan government to expel 1.7 million Afghan nationals as unprecedented, uncalled for and unjustified.
They say Afghans who have been living in Pakistan for decades, are now facing collateral punishment for strained ties and growing rivalry between the Taliban and the Islamabad government.
Of the more than 4 million Afghans living in Pakistan, the government estimates 1.7 million are undocumented.
Many fled Afghanistan during its decades of internal conflict since the late 1970s, while the Taliban takeover after the US withdrawal in 2021 led to another mass exodus.
Pakistan has taken a hardline stance against those residing illegally, saying that such Afghan nationals had been behind militant attacks, smuggling and other crimes in the country.
Kabul had dismissed the accusations.
In the Afghan capital, the Taliban administration asked all countries hosting Afghan refugees to give them more time to prepare for repatriation.
“We call on them not to deport forcefully Afghans without preparation, rather give them enough time and countries should use tolerance,” it said.
The regime also assured the Afghansthat they could return and live peacefully in Afghanistan.
However, Pakistan remained firm that it would go ahead with its decision to deport all illegal migrants.
Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti saw off 64 Afghans with a video on X, formerly Twitter, with a statement that this action was “testament to Pakistan’s determination to repatriate any individuals residing in the country without proper documentation”.
IANS