Pakistan minister says Afghani repatriation to continue

ISLAMABAD: Despite facing international condemnation of its actions, Pakistani authorities on Wednesday declared that they will the repatriation of Afghan refugees, Pakistan-based daily, Dawn reported.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi gave the statement during his meeting with UN delegation led by Special Representative for Afghanistan, Indrika Ratwatte, Dawn reported.

Pakistan had launched the deportation last year after alleging that a spike in suicide bombings in the country at that time was carried out by Afghan nationals, the same news report claimed.

However, the minister assured the delegation that no action was being taken against individuals holding legal documents.

Meanwhile, a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) quoted by Dawn reported that there were 2.18 million documented Afghan refugees living in Pakistan which included 1.3 million refugees holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards as per the census carried in 2006-07, and an additional 8,80,000 refugees who were granted Afghan Citizen Cards (ACCs) allotted after a registration drive from 2017.

Contrary to the claims made by Pakistan, currently Human Rights Watch in its World Report 2024 quoted by Dawn claimed previously that the mass deportations of undocumented Afghans, including those with refugee claims, occurred without safeguards to protect them against police abuses.

At that time, Elaine Pearson, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch had stated, "The Pakistani government has failed to take adequate measures to assist the millions of Pakistanis who have been pushed into poverty this past year.

The authorities appeared more focused on muzzling dissenting voices than protecting the rights of everyone in Pakistan," Dawn quoted. Additionally, a statement released in April this year by Amnesty International, a human rights organisation, had also claimed that the announcement of the deportation has deeply affected the Afghan refugees living in Pakistan despite having the required Pakistani citizenship, Dawn quoted.

In the same statement the then Campaigner for Refugee and Migrants' Rights at Amnesty International, James Jennion mentioned, "The Pakistan authorities' callous disregard for the persecution, serious human rights violations and humanitarian catastrophe that await Afghan refugees if deported to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is heart-breaking.

Instead of heeding repeated global calls to halt deportations, the newly-elected Pakistani government has disappointingly now extended the deportation drive to Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders as well." Jennion also mentioned that this decision will affect the lives of over 8,00,000 Afghan refugees across Pakistan and expose these Afghans to another wave of harassment and struggle.

"Pakistan's 'Illegal Foreigners' Repatriation Plan' violates refugee and international human rights law, particularly the principle of non-refoulement, and puts the lives of all Afghan refugees at risk, particularly women, girls, journalists, human rights defenders, women protestors, artists, and former Afghan government and security officials.

The Government's decision also lacks transparency and arbitrarily cancels the validity of the ACC documentation that was issued by the Government of Pakistan itself," he added in the same Amnesty International statement. (ANI)