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Over 200 Afghan journalists in Pakistan face deportation amid crackdown on illegal immigrants

Afghan people wait behind a fenced corridor before crossing into Pakistan at the zero point Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Nangarhar province on February 25, 2023. (AFP/File)
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Updated 10 October 2023
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Over 200 Afghan journalists in Pakistan face deportation amid crackdown on illegal immigrants

  • Afghan journalists urge Pakistani authorities to extend legal stay in the country until they are resettled to other countries
  • Pakistani federation of journalists says lives of Afghan journalists deported would be under threat in Afghanistan
Updated 10 October 2023
Aamir Saeed

ISLAMABAD: With over 200 Afghan journalists and their families facing deportation from Pakistan, a federation of Afghan journalists on Tuesday urged the Pakistani government to reconsider its decision to expel them from the country.

According to data by the Pakistan-Afghan International Forum of Journalists, at least 650 media workers fled to Pakistan fearing persecution at the hands of the Taliban after the group took over Kabul in August 2021. About 400 journalists have made it to different countries, including the US, Germany and France, but the rest have been stuck as their travel documents have expired.

Pakistan's caretaker interior minister announced last Tuesday the government would deport illegal immigrants in the country from Nov. 1. While Pakistan says the operation would not be restricted to people of any particular nationality, the move is likely to impact Afghan nationals in Pakistan the most.

“The majority of Afghan journalists entered Pakistan legally but Pakistani authorities are not extending our visas now,” Hashmat Vejdani, spokesperson of the Federation of Afghan Journalists in Exile, told Arab News on Tuesday.

“Those who entered Pakistan illegally to escape Taliban persecution have also applied for visas but the government was not entertaining their applications.”

At least 600,000 Afghans fled to neighboring Pakistan after the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

Even before then, Pakistan hosted some 1.5 million registered refugees, one of the largest such populations in the world, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Over a million others are estimated to live in Pakistan unregistered.

Afghan journalists in Pakistan are anxiously waiting for visas from countries that previously employed them and have often complained that Pakistani police detain or threaten to arrest them for bribes, a charge police officials deny.

For over 200 Afghan journalists in Pakistan, the clock is ticking as their travel documents are expiring.

"Cases of the majority of Afghan journalists staying in Pakistan are under process for resettlement in European countries, therefore Pakistani government should reconsider its decision,” Vejdani said.

He voiced fears that Afghan journalists deported to Afghanistan would either be jailed or killed by the Taliban.

“The media in Afghanistan is in total control of the Taliban," he said. "We have worked for Western news organizations during the war so the Taliban consider us their staunch enemies."

Vejdani said Afghan journalists are ready to cooperate with the Pakistani government and called upon authorities to extend their visas till their resettlement applications are not finalized.

He said Afghan journalists and their families in Pakistan were registered with the Society for Human Rights and Prisoners’ Aid (SHARP), a Pakistani NGO that is an implementing partner of the UNHCR.

“Our deportation would clearly mean throwing us to the Taliban for murder," Vejdani said. "Pakistan should heed our requests for a safe and legal stay here."

Pakistan’s interior ministry did not respond to calls and messages seeking their version for this story.

Separately, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Tuesday urged Pakistan's government to reconsider its decision and called on media stakeholders, civil society organizations, and international governments to increase their support for Afghan journalists in exile.

“At least 200 Afghan journalists are currently refugees in Pakistan, forced to flee the Taliban’s crackdown on press freedom, including draconian restrictions on women journalists, shuttering of media houses, and rampant censorship,” the IFJ said in a statement.

In August, the IFJ and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) established two solidarity centers in Islamabad to aid Afghan journalists that provided emergency housing, legal and psychological support. One of the two centers is exclusively for women journalists.

“We have the data of 256 Afghan journalists in Pakistan, and we have been in touch with the government to chalk out a way for their stay in the country,” PFUJ President Afzal Butt told Arab News.

“We know the lives of these journalists would be in danger if deported to Afghanistan, therefore we have been trying our best for their legal stay in Pakistan until their resettlement to third countries,” Butt added.

Topics: Afghan refugee in Pakistan

Pakistan’s finance minister discusses Panda Bond launch with China’s central bank governor in Beijing

Updated 39 sec ago
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Pakistan’s finance minister discusses Panda Bond launch with China’s central bank governor in Beijing

  • The bonds are denominated in China’s currency and will provide Pakistan access to Chinese capital markets
  • The finance minister also discusses the next CPEC stage, expected to emphasize business-to-business ties
Updated 39 sec ago
Aamir Saeed

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb briefed Governor of People’s Bank of China (PBoC) Pan Gongsheng on Pakistan’s plan to launch Panda Bonds during a meeting in Beijing on Friday in which they discussed a wide range of economic issues.
Panda Bonds are sold in China’s domestic market and are denominated in its currency, though they are issued by non-Chinese entities. Pakistan plans to issue these bonds to diversify its funding sources and strengthen its foreign exchange reserves by attracting Chinese investors.
According to local media reports, the initial issuance is expected to raise between $250 million and $300 million, helping Pakistan improve its financial stability amid economic challenges like high inflation and declining forex reserves.
The minister spoke about the government’s economic policy during the meeting in which reprentatives of other financial institutions were also present.
“Underlining Pakistan’s plan to launch Panda Bonds, Minister for Finance briefed PBoC and other Financial Institutions about the steps taken so far and sought cooperation of the Chinese institutional investors in the capital market to seek benefit from the pro-business policies of the new [Pakistani] Government,” said a statement issued by the finance division after the meeting.
The Pakistani official also highlighted his country’s improving macroeconomic indicators, reforms in tax collection and energy sector and privatization of loss-making state-owned enterprises.
He applauded Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative while reviewing the progress of its flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
The minister noted the next phase of CPEC would focus on strengthening business-to-business cooperation, with private sector playing the central role in the development and economic growth.
He arrived in China on Thursday to open talks on power sector structural reforms suggested by the International Monetary Fund, two government sources quoted by Reuters.
Aurangzeb is also accompanied by Pakistan’s Power Minster Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari.
According to Reuters, both officials are expected to take up several proposals with the Chinese side, including reprofiling of nearly $15 billion energy sector debt.

Topics: Pakistan China Ties Muhammad Aurangzeb Pakistan china Pakistan economy Panda bonds

Pakistani craftsman strives to preserve antiques in a dying industry

Updated 28 min 51 sec ago
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Pakistani craftsman strives to preserve antiques in a dying industry

  • Based in Rawalpindi’s Bhabra Bazaar, Mohammad Shakeel Abbasi has restored centuries-old bugles, decorative dishes, jars, vases and teapots 
  • Artifacts at Abbasi’s shop sell for anywhere between $40 to $1,000, many collectors place orders after coming across antiques online
Updated 28 min 51 sec ago
Aamir Saeed

RAWALPINDI: Antiquarian Mohammad Shakeel Abbasi pulled open the shutter of his shop in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi to reveal a small space choke-full of bugles, decorative dishes, jars, vases, teapots, bowls and plates inscribed with ancient motifs.
Located in the historic Bhabra Bazaar, Abbasi’s shop, lit up by a few naked light bulbs, is among a dwindling number of antique restoration workshops in the garrison city. The 71-year-old inherited the craft from his forefathers and set up the shop nearly 40 years ago in 1985, now employing three workers who help him repair, polish and electroplate copper and brass relics to be sold to customers in Pakistan and abroad.
“Since then [1985] I’ve been in this business,” Abbasi told Arab News at his shop earlier this month as he dusted an antique bugle. “We purchase antique items and repair them and polish them and then sell them to our dedicated customers.” 
Buyers reach out to him from as far as the UK and US, he added. 
Abbasi mainly sources copper and brass items from households and scrap dealers, who scour heaps of imported items that first land at the port in Pakistan’s commercial hub of Karachi. 
“The traders who buy them, they contact us,” the craftsman said. “They are broken items, and we have to repair them and polish and recondition them to the extent that you cannot even tell that this was an old item.”
Antiques at Abbasi’s shop can sell for anywhere between $40 to $1,000, but the art of antique preservation and restoration is now at risk of being lost as the new generation is opting out of the profession. 
“The problem is that the craftsmen who used to work [on antiques] are no longer available. Not a lot of attention is given to this craft, The government has also not prioritized training craftsmen,” Abbasi lamented. 
“Antiquarians quit the business due to lack of business, and some passed away and the new generation isn’t interested in this line of work.”
Customers and collectors who frequent Abbasi’s shop often place orders after coming across antique items on the Internet.
“I have liked an antiques page [on social media]. I searched for an item on the Internet and told him [Abbasi] about it and he arranged it for me,” Dr. Ahmad Ali, an antique collector, told Arab News. “It was the same thing that I had ordered.”
Shamas Rehman, who has been a collector for over two decades, praised Abbasi’s fine craftsmanship. 
“My forefathers were collecting antiques, it was their hobby, and now I have been collecting them since 2003,” he said, “and from wherever we can get the antiques, we buy them, collect them and place them in our homes, and this goes on.”

Topics: Antiquities Rawalpindi

Government orders police to ensure ceasefire after nine killed over property dispute in northwest Pakistan

Updated 26 July 2024
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Government orders police to ensure ceasefire after nine killed over property dispute in northwest Pakistan

  • The deadly and ongoing clashes over property dispute broke out on Wednesday 
  • Kurram has seen conflicts between tribes and religious groups in the past
Updated 26 July 2024
WASIM SAJJAD

PESHAWAR: The provincial administration of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Friday instructed police to take necessary steps to end ongoing clashes in Kurram district over a property dispute, with nine people killed and dozens injured.

Located along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, the area has witnessed deadly conflicts among tribes and religious groups in the past as well as sectarian clashes and militant attacks. A major conflict that began in Kurram in 2007 continued for years before it was ended with the help of a jirga, a traditional assembly of tribal elders.

The current clash over a land dispute broke out on Wednesday and quickly spread to several villages and nearby settlements. 

According to an official statement circulated by the KP government, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur directed the district administration and police to ensure a ceasefire.

“No one will be allowed to take the law into their own hands or disturb the peace of the area,” Gandapur was quoted as saying. “The administration and police must ensure the rule of government and law in the area. The parties to the dispute are also urged to resolve the property issue through a jirga according to tribal traditions.”

Syed Mir Hassan Jan, the Medical Superintendent at the District Headquarters Hospital in Kurram, said nine bodies and 58 injured people linked to the clashes had been brought to the hospital in the last three days.

The District Police Officer in Kurram, Nisar Ahmad Khan, said sporadic attacks were still ongoing.

“The conflict intensifies at night,” he said. “Sporadic exchange of fire has been going on between the tribes during the past two days.”

Khan said a large number of police and army personnel had been deployed at various locations to prevent clashes.

“The jirga, district administration, army and police have intervened to control the situation,” he added. 

The roads leading to Kurram have also been shut down since the clashes began.

“The entrances and exits were closed so that any third-party intervention could be avoided,” the DPO said.

Topics: Arab News Pakistan

Security forces kill militant in intelligence-based operation in Pakistan’s northwest

Updated 26 July 2024
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Security forces kill militant in intelligence-based operation in Pakistan’s northwest

  • ISPR calls the slain militant a close associate of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a high-value target
  • It says he facilitated a suicide bombing that killed seven Pakistani security personnel
Updated 26 July 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Security forces have killed a militant in an intelligence-based operation in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said on Friday, adding that he facilitated suicide bombings and was involved in target killings.

KP, which borders Afghanistan, has seen a surge in attacks on security forces, government officials and anti-polio vaccination teams in recent weeks. In a major attack in the province’s Bannu district, ten soldiers were killed when militants launched a coordinated attack on a military cantonment on July 15.

Islamabad blames the recent surge in attacks, including the attack on the army cantonment in Bannu, on Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a proscribed armed network, which it says operates out of neighboring Afghanistan. Kabul denies the allegations and says rising violence in Pakistan is a domestic issue for Islamabad.

“Security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in the North Waziristan district on the reported presence of terrorists,” the ISPR said, adding that during the course of the operation, a militant named Razzaq was killed.

The slain militant was a close associate of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a high-value target, and remained involved in numerous militant activities in the area including the target killing of Malik Sher Muhammad, a local leader, earlier this year apart from facilitating a suicide bombing in March that resulted in the killing of seven soldiers.

The ISPR said a “sanitization operation” was being conducted to eliminate any other militant found in the area, adding that the security forces remained determined to eliminate extremist violence from the country.

Topics: Pakistan Army IBO Pakistan

Pakistan rejects Modi’s accusations Islamabad using ‘terrorism, proxy war’ to stay relevant

Updated 26 July 2024
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Pakistan rejects Modi’s accusations Islamabad using ‘terrorism, proxy war’ to stay relevant

  • Modi promised to defeat Pakistan’s ‘unholy plans’ against India on the anniversary of Kargil conflict
  • Pakistan says India should reflect on its own targeted assassination campaigns in foreign territories
Updated 26 July 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan criticized the “belligerent remarks” of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday after being accused by him of employing “terrorism” in its eastern neighborhood to advance its strategic interests.

Modi’s comments came at an event to mark the 25th anniversary of a military conflict between the two nuclear-armed rivals in the Himalayan region of Kargil.

Both neighboring states share an uneasy relationship, with India accusing Pakistan of using militant groups as proxies to fight its rule in Kashmir, the Himalayan region both claim in full but rule only in part.

Pakistan has denied New Delhi’s accusations, saying it only provides diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiris seeking self-determination, though it has fought two out of three wars with India over Kashmir.

“Pakistan rejects the Indian Prime Minister’s belligerent remarks made in Drass, Ladakh on 26 July 2024,” the foreign office said in a statement.

“Bravado and jingoism undermine regional peace, and are totally counter-productive for resolution of long-standing disputes between Pakistan and India, especially the core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir,” it continued.

The foreign office said such statements by Indian leaders could not deflect international attention from New Delhi’s “heavy-handed approach” to suppress the struggle of Kashmiri people.

“Instead of maligning others for terrorism, India should reflect on its own campaign of orchestrating targeted assassinations, subversion and terrorism in foreign territories,” it added.

The statement also highlighted Pakistan’s ability to safeguard its sovereignty, making a reference to the February 2019 downing of an Indian fighter jet in response to an aerial incursion.

It noted that while Pakistan was ready to “counter India’s aggressive actions,” it was committed to promoting peace and stability in the neighborhood.

Earlier, Modi said he wanted to “tell these patrons of terrorism that their unholy plans will never be successful” against his country.

India-Pakistan relations have been largely frozen as the two countries downgraded their diplomatic ties in tit-for-tat moves in August 2019 after New Delhi scrapped Kashmir’s special status and split it into two federally administered territories.

Ties were further strained after a suicide bombing of an Indian military convoy in Kashmir was traced to Pakistan-based militants, prompting India to carry out an airstrike on what it said was a militant base in Pakistan.

Earlier this year, Pakistan said there was credible evidence linking Indian agents to the killing of people on its soil — accusations that India termed “fake.”

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said last month that India would look for a solution to cross-border terrorism, which “cannot be the policy of a good neighbor.”

With input from Reuters

Topics: Pakistan Modi Pakistan India Ties

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