ISLAMABAD: Human rights organization Amnesty International on Thursday urged Islamabad not to deport Afghan refugees after Eid Al-Fitr, as Pakistan gears up to forcefully repatriate thousands of what it says are illegal immigrants this month.
Pakistan has started mapping Afghan nationals across the country to expel them after the Eid Al-Fitr festival, a government official confirmed last month, adding it would target mostly those who possess Pakistan-issued Afghan citizen cards.
Pakistan has already expelled around half a million undocumented Afghan refugees since last November despite criticism from the United Nations and international rights organizations that objected to its deportation drive against refugees.
“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,” James Jennion, Campaigner for refugee and migrants’ rights at Amnesty International, said.
“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 said the move threatens to unleash another wave of harassment and detentions across Pakistan after Ramadan ends, warning that it puts the lives of over 800,000 Afghan refugees in the country at risk.
He said Pakistan’s deportation plan is in violation of refugee and international human rights law and puts the lives of all Afghan refugees at risk, particularly women, girls, journalists, human rights defenders, women protesters, artists, and former Afghan government and security officials.
“We call on the Pakistani authorities to immediately reverse these decisions and urgently pass human rights-compliant law protecting the rights of refugees in the country,” he said.
“And become a state party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees along with its Protocols.”
Pakistan’s decision to deport illegal immigrants was made last year amid a surge in deadly suicide bombings that were claimed by banned militant outfits like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, whose leaders were said to have taken sanctuary in neighboring Afghanistan.
The caretaker administration of Pakistan had also accused Afghan nationals residing in the country of perpetrating violent acts against its citizens and security forces.
The move further deteriorated Pakistan’s already strained ties with Afghanistan, which have taken a hit after a surge in militant attacks mostly led by the TTP since Nov. 2022.
Pakistan is home to more than 4 million Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7 million of them undocumented, according to the interior ministry. These people poured into the country in millions to escape wars, factional fighting and economic crises following the Soviet invasion in 1979.
