ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court began hearings on Friday on a petition by rights activists seeking to halt deportation of Afghan refugees, a lawyer said, as authorities are combing refugee settlements in an effort to find and send home thousands.
More than 370,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan since Oct. 1, after Pakistan vowed to expel more than a million undocumented migrants, mostly Afghans, amid a row with Kabul over charges that it harbors anti-Pakistan militants.
“Due to the urgency, as thousands of people are suffering on daily basis, I’ve requested the court to take up the case as early as next week,” said Umar Ijaz Gilani, the lawyer representing the rights activists.
The panel of three judges hearing the case has asked the government, the interior (home) and foreign ministries, as well as a panel of government and top military officials, to furnish an explanation in reply, the lawyer said.
Thousands of Afghans have gone underground in Pakistan to avoid deportation, fearing for their lives if they return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan following a hasty and chaotic withdrawal of US-led Western forces in 2021.
Children born to Afghan families in Pakistan could not be sent back due to their birthright, Gilani said.
Friday’s petition is separate from another focused exclusively on seeking Pakistani citizenship for such children, as guaranteed by the South Asian nation’s constitution, he said.
Pakistan is home to more than 4 million Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7 million of whom are undocumented.
Many arrived after the Taliban retook Afghanistan in 2021, joining a large number living there since the Soviet invasion of the neighboring nation in 1979.
Pakistani police have searched door-to-door in refugee settlements for any who have not left voluntarily, starting from the southern port city of Karachi, where hundreds of thousands of Afghans live. Any remaining are being forced to leave.
Islamabad has not heeded calls from international bodies and refugee agencies to reconsider its deportation plans.
Pakistan’s top court begins hearing challenge to expulsion of Afghans
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Pakistan’s top court begins hearing challenge to expulsion of Afghans
- Over 370,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan since Oct. 1, after Pakistan vowed to expel more than a million undocumented migrants
- Pakistan is home to more than four million Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7 million of whom are undocumented
Amnesty urges Pakistan to halt deportations of Afghan refugees
- Rights group’s letter to PM Sharif warns deportations violate non-refoulement, expose Afghans to abuse
- Pakistan says it has hosted Afghans for decades with respect, denies mistreatment during repatriation
ISLAMABAD: Amnesty International has urged Pakistan to stop the detention and deportation of Afghan refugees, warning that mass expulsions could expose many to serious human rights violations, according to an open letter the group’s South Asia office posted on X on Friday.
The letter, dated Jan. 1, was addressed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and comes as Pakistan presses ahead with a multi-phase campaign to repatriate undocumented foreign nationals, most of whom are Afghans who fled decades of war and persecution.
“Amnesty International calls on the Pakistani authorities to halt the deportation of Afghan refugees and ensure that individuals with international protection needs are safeguarded as per international human rights law,” the organization said, warning that the policy violated the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning people to countries where they risk serious abuse.
Amnesty said Pakistan had provided sanctuary to Afghan nationals for decades, but its policy has shifted sharply since the launch of the “Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan” in September 2023, describing it as potentially “one of the largest forcible returns of refugees in modern history,” which it said was marked by a lack of transparency, due process and accountability.
The rights group cited data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, saying arrests and detentions of Afghan refugees had increased tenfold last year, with more than 115,000 cases recorded. It said detainees often had little access to legal representation or family members, and that children were among those arrested.
According to the International Organization for Migration, nearly 1.5 million Afghans have returned since the deportation drive began, with almost half of those returns taking place in 2025 alone. Amnesty said deportations were frequently carried out swiftly, with limits imposed on the money and belongings refugees could take with them.
The group also warned that journalists, human rights defenders, women dissidents and former government officials were being deported despite heightened risks under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, where Amnesty has documented extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, torture and severe restrictions on women and girls.
Pakistan has not issued a response to the letter.
However, officials in Islamabad have previously said Pakistan has hosted Afghan nationals for decades with respect, sharing its resources despite limited international support. The Pakistan Foreign Office said last year that mechanisms were in place to ensure no one was mistreated or harassed during the repatriation process.
Pakistan has also claimed that Afghan nationals have remained involved in militancy and crime, though the mass expulsions are widely seen as an attempt to pressure Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to curb cross-border militant attacks by armed factions targeting Pakistani forces, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
International organizations, including the UN refugee agency, have also urged Pakistan in the past to halt forced deportations and ensure that any returns are voluntary, gradual and dignified.
