Pakistan: New phase of deporting Afghan refugees

Pakistan plans to initiate a new phase of forced deportation for Afghan nationals. Reports indicate that in Phase I, the Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government in Pakistan has decided to immediately repatriate Afghan Citizenship Card holders from the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT)/Rawalpindi to Afghanistan, along with illegal or undocumented Afghans.

In Phase II, Afghan nationals with Proof of Residence cards in Pakistan will be deported before June 30, 2025. Even those Afghans awaiting resettlement in a third country who moved to Pakistan after the Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021 are reportedly told to relocate by the end of March or face actions from Pakistani authorities. These timelines have placed the lives of many innocent Afghan refugees in grave danger.

International human rights organizations are highly concerned about Pakistan?s irresponsible behavior regarding this issue and have raised questions about the timeframe of this new relocation phase.

Analysts believe that Pakistan is using the pretext of alleged ?cross-border? terrorism from Afghanistan to target Afghan nationals, particularly Pashtuns, as a means to pressure the interim Taliban government in Kabul.

The relocation of thousands of refugees will impose an additional economic strain on war-torn Afghanistan, which is already facing a shortfall in supplies of essential food items.

On February 5, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) issued a joint statement expressing concerns about recent developments that require Afghan nationals in Pakistan to relocate from the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Rawalpindi, or else face deportation.

The two agencies have sought clarity on the modality and timeframe of this relocation. They have requested that the government of Pakistan ?implement any relocation measures with due consideration for human rights standards, including due process, and the legal status of Proof of Registration (POR) and Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders who have resided in Pakistan for an extended period.?

This response came a week after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved a comprehensive plan targeting nearly 3 million Afghan citizens in Pakistan, including legally recognized refugees, both documented and undocumented migrants, as well as individuals awaiting relocation to the United States and other Western nations.

Pakistan?s sudden and uncertain decision to forcefully relocate Afghan nationals within the new timeframe will cause instability among the refugee community. It will also hamper their daily livelihoods, including the education of children. Some analysts aver that Pakistan is pressing hard on this issue to force international organizations to support Islamabad?s efforts through fresh financial aid or refugee funds.

Pakistan is already facing significant cuts in financial assistance from the United States after the new Trump administration stopped funding the USAID programs. It further gives a reason to Islamabad for deporting Afghan nationals, both documented and undocumented, from the government.

Until a few years back, Pakistan was comfortable hosting these refugees as the Afghan Taliban was largely dependent on Islamabad?s support in their fight against the Western forces in Afghanistan.

However, the Taliban leadership refused to follow the dictums of Pakistan?s military establishment after its return to power in August 2021 on issues such as the status of the Durand Line, relations with India, and pacifying the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Islamabad?s behalf.

As a result, Pakistan chose to use the issue of refugee deportation as leverage against the Afghan Taliban.

Since 2023, Pakistani authorities have forcibly repatriated over 800,000 Afghans from their territory. The deportations stemmed from a government crackdown on ?foreigners? living in the country allegedly without legal permission or with expired visas.

Islamabad has linked a recent increase in crime and militancy in Pakistan to Afghan nationals. In contrast, Afghan refugees have significantly contributed to the local economy in Pakistan by working as low-wage laborers under challenging conditions.

In their joint statement, UNHCR and IOM remarked, ?The overwhelming majority of Afghan nationals in Pakistan are law-abiding individuals whose situation needs to be viewed through a humanitarian lens.?

The two UN agencies expressed particular concern for Afghan nationals who may face harm upon their return, including ethnic and religious minorities, women and girls, journalists, human rights activists, and members of artistic professions such as musicians.

What is more worrying is the fact that Pakistani authorities have been selectively targeting Afghan nationals for years now, which intensified after August 2021, as a tactic to force them to leave the country due to fear of physical torture and prison.

In January, Amnesty International released a concerning statement confirming the state-sponsored harassment of Afghans in Pakistan: ?The police night raids, harassment and arbitrary detention of hundreds of Afghan refugees, including women and children, in the capital city is part of a larger discriminatory policy against Afghans inside the country.

The Pakistani government has repeatedly and arbitrarily enacted policies increasing the precarity of Afghan refugees inside the country, leading thousands to return to Afghanistan in the last 15 months, and this newest policy measure has endangered an already at-risk population.?

Additionally, the Taliban?s charg? d?affaires in Pakistan, Sardar Ahmad Shakeeb, also raised concerns about the harassment of Afghan refugees during a meeting with Philippa Candler, the UNHCR representative in Pakistan.

Shakeeb claimed that Pakistani police conducted raids targeting Afghan refugees, including women and children, some of whom possess valid visas and legal documentation. In the past, two key Taliban leaders, Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund and Defense Minister Muhammad Yaqoob Mujahid, accused Pakistan?s civil and military leadership of disrespecting and harassing refugees and criticized Pakistan?s confiscation of their property and other assets.

As Pakistan plans to forcibly deport three million Afghan nationals in the coming months, the likelihood of renewed tensions between Kabul and Islamabad is increasing. It will also exacerbate racism against the minority Pashtun community in Pakistan in provinces like Punjab and Sindh, and military operations may intensify in Pashtun-dominated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, causing internal displacements.

The UN agencies and Western countries should pressure Pakistan to stop harassing Afghan nationals, especially Pashtuns, and extend their relocation timeframe to avoid brazen human rights violations.

(europeantimes.org)