For Afghans in Pakistan, deportation threat clouds Eid Al-Fitr holiday

In this file photo, taken on November 17, 2023, police personnel check documents of Afghan refugees during a search operation to identify alleged illegal immigrants, on the outskirts of Karachi. (AFP/File)
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Updated 11 April 2024
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For Afghans in Pakistan, deportation threat clouds Eid Al-Fitr holiday

  • Pakistan has announced it will start expelling Afghans with state-issued citizen cards after Eid Al-Fitr 
  • Pakistan has already expelled around half a million ‘undocumented’ Afghan refugees since last November

KARACHI: For Ayesha Naimatullah, who lives in a small apartment on the outskirts of the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, Eid Al-Fitr is usually a joyous occasion despite the limited earnings of her husband, who sells fruit at a nearby market.
But this year is different as the family of seven faces imminent deportation to Afghanistan, amid an expulsion drive aimed at foreigners that started in November.
Last month, the Pakistan government said it had started mapping Afghan nationals with Pakistan-issued citizen cards for deportation as part of phase two of its expulsion drive in which around half a million so-called undocumented Afghan refugees have already been expelled. The new post-Eid campaign will mainly target 600,000 refugees who hold Pakistan-issued Afghan citizenship cards (ACCs).
Following the central government’s policy, the government in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, of which Karachi is the provincial capital, last week announced a crackdown on refugees holding ACCs, and their deportation is likely to begin shortly after the three-day Eid holiday.
“How can there be happiness [on Eid] when they are expelling us? Everyone is happy, but Afghans are all sad,” Naimatullah told Arab News. “They have made yellow cards (ACCs), which Pakistan itself made for us, but they are expelling us.”
In October 2023, Pakistan announced phase one of the ‘Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan’ with a 30-day deadline for “undocumented” Afghan refugees to leave the country or be subject to deportation, putting 1.4 million refugees at risk.
In phase two of the ‘repatriation plan,’ Pakistan-issued ACC holders will be expelled from the country after the Eid Al-Fitr festival, a major Muslim holiday that fell on April 10. Phase three is expected to result in the deportation of UNHCR-issued Proof of Registration (PoR) card holders.
Until November last year, before it began the deportation drive, Pakistan was home to over 4 million Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7 million of whom were undocumented, according to the government. Afghans make up the largest portion of migrants, many of whom came after the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, but a large number have been present since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The expulsion drive started after a spike in suicide bombings last year which the Pakistan government — without providing evidence — said mostly involved Afghans. Islamabad has also blamed them for smuggling and other militant violence and crime.
At the time, cash-strapped Pakistan, navigating record inflation and a tough International Monetary Fund bailout program, also said undocumented migrants had drained its resources for decades.
Despite the challenges facing migrants, Pakistan is the only home many of them know and a sanctuary from the economic deprivation and extreme social conservatism that Afghanistan is grappling with.
While hundreds of thousands have left Pakistan since the expiry of a November 1, 2023 deadline, the South Asian country still hosts around 1.35 million registered Afghan refugees, with an additional 803,200 possessing ACCs, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
However, these ACCs now stand null and void, despite no mention of an expiry date. 
“EID OR GRIEF”
Naimatullah, who has two daughters and three sons, recounted her parents’ migration to Pakistan following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, saying she and her children has been born in Karachi but still faced the threat of deportation.
“We are in a very difficult situation, neither do we have a place [to live] in Afghanistan, nor is there any life there,” she sighed. “There is nothing at all.”
Kamila Bibi, 16, echoed her mother’s concerns, particularly with regards to her education.
The Taliban administration since coming to power has closed most secondary schools to girls, stopped female students attending universities and stopped many Afghan women working for aid groups and the United Nations.
“There [Afghanistan], a ban has also been imposed on girls’ education. If we go there, all our hard work will go to waste, and my education will also be ruined,” Kamila said.
“I study for six to eight hours a day, and all this hard work of mine could go to waste if they expel Afghans,” she added.
“Eid doesn’t hold much meaning [to us] because my studies are being disrupted. Education is Eid for me, it means everything … Our studies will also be ruined and our future will be destroyed [if deported].”
Kamila’s 14-year-old brother, Naseebullah, who dreams of becoming a doctor, said the threat of expulsion had cast a shadow over the 6th grader’s aspirations.
“It will become difficult to achieve that dream and I may never be able to become a doctor,” he said. 
Waseema Hashmatullah, a 65-year-old housewife who survives on the earnings of her son, a daily wager, shared the same sentiment as Naimatullah’s family.
“We are sitting with this same worry. There is nothing there [in Afghanistan],” she said. “This is the worry this Eid.”
Hashmatullah’s daughter, Zarghona, a single mother and a registered refugee, joined her paternal family in Pakistan after a divorce in which she lost custody of her children to a husband who lives in Afghanistan.
“I don’t know how we spent these fasting days [in Ramadan] and now Eid is coming, I don’t know how this Eid will pass,” she said, worried about whether her younger siblings would be able to continue studying upon returning to Afghanistan.
“My entire family is in this dilemma these days. We don’t know whether it is Eid coming for us or grief.”


Edgbaston Stadium to transform into ‘Fan Park’ for India-Pakistan T20 World Cup clash

Updated 11 sec ago
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Edgbaston Stadium to transform into ‘Fan Park’ for India-Pakistan T20 World Cup clash

  • Edgbaston Stadium to live stream India-Pakistan T20 World Cup clash on June 9 for thousands of fans on a giant screen 
  • Millions across the world are expected to tune in on June 9 to watch cricket’s most fiercest rivalry take centerstage in New York

ISLAMABAD: England’s famous Edgbaston Stadium will transform into a “huge Fan Park” on June 9 where thousands of spectators from India and Pakistan will watch their teams battle it out in New York in a T20 World Cup clash, the Warwickshire County Club said this week. 

The June 9 T20 World Cup clash in New York between arch-rivals India and Pakistan is one of the most anticipated cricket matches this year. Millions are expected to tune in worldwide to watch one of the sports’ fiercest rivalries take centerstage in New York. 

The Edgbaston Stadium, one of the leading venues in world cricket, has been the home of Warwickshire County Cricket Club since 1885. For over 100 years, it has hosted first-class and international cricket in Birmingham. 

Warwickshire County Club announced on Wednesday that over 8,000 fans are expected to gather at the Edgbaston Stadium to catch the action live on a giant screen. 

“For the first time ever the ICC are giving UK fans an opportunity to watch it live from Edgbaston Stadium where the piazza will be turned into a family festival of cricket,” Warwickshire County Club said in a press release. 

“Fans will be able to watch the action on a big screen and enjoy the build-up as comedian and cricket commentator Aatif Nawaz takes to the stage alongside former India and Pakistan players.”

Edgbaston Chief Executive Stuart Cain said the stadium was the only venue in England chosen by the ICC as a T20 World Cup fan zone, terming the development as “amazing.”

“It’s an opportunity for our local communities to really feel part of the T20 World Cup experience and I’m sure it will be a fantastic occasion,” Cain said.

“Pakistan and India fans generated an electric atmosphere here in the 2019 Cricket World Cup and I’ve no doubt we can get close to replicating that in the Fan Zone.”

Apart from watching the match on the large screen with live commentary, fans will also be able to access a large family picnic area with activities including cricket skill challenges and cultural performances from both Indian and Pakistan communities, the press release said. 

“Fan parks are an important part of bringing World Cups to more people across the globe,” ICC’s Head of Events Chris Tetley said. 

“I am sure there will be a great atmosphere on the day and based on previous India and Pakistan matches that have taken place at Edgbaston it will be an occasion not to be missed.”

Gates are scheduled to open for fans at 1:00 p.m. GMT before the live feed of the match starts at 3:0 p.m. GMT.

Fans can buy tickets at t20worldcupfanpark.edgbaston.com.


Pakistan minister praises Saudi king, crown prince for providing ‘excellent facilities’ to Hajj pilgrims

Updated 24 min 23 sec ago
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Pakistan minister praises Saudi king, crown prince for providing ‘excellent facilities’ to Hajj pilgrims

  • Pakistan’s religious affairs minister inspects Hajj 2024 arrangements in Madinah 
  • Over 15,000 Pakistani pilgrims have arrived in Madinah weeks before Hajj kicks off

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s religion minister arrived in Madinah on Thursday to inspect Hajj 2024 arrangements, praising Saudi Arabia’s king and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for ensuring “excellent facilities” were provided to pilgrims ahead of the Islamic pilgrimage. 

Chaudhry Salik Hussain, Pakistan’s religious affairs minister, arrived in Jeddah on Wednesday to inspect Hajj 2024 arrangements for Pakistani pilgrims. The Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to the holy places of worship in Makkah and is obligatory on every Muslim adult who is physically and financially able to make the journey. 

Over 15,000 Pakistani pilgrims have arrived in the holy city of Madinah from various parts of the country in a month-long flight operation that kicked off on May 9. Pilgrims are expected to depart for Makkah on May 17 after completing an eight-day stay in Madinah. 

“We are thankful to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for providing excellent facilities to Hajj pilgrims,” Salik was quoted as saying by Pakistan’s religion ministry. 

Hussain visited the Pakistan Hajj Mission and reviewed arrangements at the complaint management cell there. 

“Timely redressal of complaints of Hajj pilgrims is proof of the system’s success,” Hussain said. 

The minister said he was satisfied that Pakistani pilgrims were provided accommodations near the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, describing it as a notable achievement of the Pakistan Hajj Mission. 

Pakistan has a Hajj quota of 179,210 pilgrims this year, of which 63,805 people will perform the pilgrimage under the government scheme, while the rest will use private tour operators.

Pakistan has set up two control rooms, one in Madinah and another at Makkah, to facilitate Hajj pilgrims. This year’s pilgrimage is expected to run from June 14-19. 


Pakistan disaster authority urges caution as heat wave expected in May and June

Updated 55 min 4 sec ago
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Pakistan disaster authority urges caution as heat wave expected in May and June

  • NDMA says temperatures likely to go up to 45 degrees in Sindh and Punjab provinces in May and June
  • Alerts issued for Umerkot, Tharparkar, Tando Allayar, Matiari, Sanghar, Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan 

KARACHI: A heatwave is expected to hit the Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Punjab in May and June, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Thursday, advising citizens in high-risk districts to take precautions. 

Increased exposure to heat, and more heatwaves, have been identified as one of the key impacts of climate change in Pakistan, with people experiencing extreme heat and seeing some of the highest temperatures in the world in recent years. The South Asian country of more than 241 million, one of the ten most vulnerable nations to climate change impacts, has also recently witnessed untimely downpours, flash floods and droughts.

In a statement released on Thursday, the NDMA listed Umerkot, Tharparkar, Tando Allayar, Matiari and Sanghar in Sindh and the Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts in Punjab as at risk from heat waves. 

“Temperatures could surge to 40 degrees Celsius from May 15-30,” the statement said. “Similarly, temperatures could rise to 45 degrees Celsius in June.”

People swim in a canal to cool themselves during a hot summer day in Lahore on May 16, 2024. (AFP)

Climate change-induced extreme heat impacts human health in multiple ways. Direct effects of exposure to extreme heat and heatwaves can include heat-related illnesses such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and hyperthermia. It can make certain chronic conditions worse, including cardiovascular, respiratory, and cerebrovascular disease and diabetes-related conditions, and can also result in acute incidents, such as hospitalizations due to strokes or renal disease. 

According to the Global Climate Risk Index, nearly 10,000 Pakistanis have died while the country has suffered economic losses worth $3.8 billion due to climate change impacts between 1999 and 2018. A deadly heatwave that hit Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi, the capital of Sindh, claimed 120 lives in 2015.

In 2022, torrential monsoon rains triggered the most devastating floods in Pakistan’s history, killing around 1,700 people and affecting over 33 million, a staggering number close to the population of Canada. Millions of homes, tens of thousands of schools and thousands of kilometers of roads and railways are yet to be rebuilt.


Cricket World Cup coming to New York’s suburbs where sport thrives among immigrants

Updated 16 May 2024
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Cricket World Cup coming to New York’s suburbs where sport thrives among immigrants

  • T20 World Cup in June will be first major international cricket tournament in United States 
  • At first a popular sport in United States of America, cricket largely disappeared after World War I 

EAST MEADOW, N.Y.: A towering stadium boasting 34,000 seats and a precisely trimmed field of soft Kentucky bluegrass is rising in a suburban New York park that will host one of the world’s top cricket tournaments next month.

But on a recent Saturday morning, on the other side of Long Island’s Eisenhower Park, budding young cricketers were already busy batting, bowling and fielding on a makeshift pitch.

The T20 World Cup will be the first major international cricket competition in the US, but the centuries-old English game has been flourishing in the far-flung corners of metro New York for years, fueled by steady waves of South Asian and Caribbean immigration. 

Each spring, parks from the Bronx and Queens to Long Island and New Jersey come alive with recreational leagues hosting weekend competitions.

American cricket organizers hope the June competition will take the sport’s popularity to the next level, providing the kind of lasting boost across generations and cultures that soccer enjoyed when the US hosted its first FIFA World Cup in 1994. 

On Wednesday, retired Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, an honorary ambassador of the T20 World Cup, visited the nearly complete Eisenhower stadium, along with members of the US cricket squad and former New York football and basketball greats.

Parmanand Sarju, founder of the Long Island Youth Cricket Academy that hosted Saturday’s practice, said he’s “beyond joyful” to see the new stadium rising atop the ball field where his youth academy began, a sign of how far things have come.

“When we started more than a decade ago, there was no understanding of cricket, at least at the youth level,” said the Merrick resident, who started the academy to teach his two American-born children the sport he grew up playing in Guyana in South America. “Now they’re building a stadium here.”

The sport originally took root in the outer boroughs of New York City but has gradually spread as immigrant families, like generations before, moved to the suburbs, transforming communities, said Ahmad Chohan, a Pakistan native who is the president of the New York Police Department’s cricket club, which also plays in Eisenhower as part of a statewide league with roughly 70 teams.

The World Cup, he said, is a “historic moment.”

Cricket is the second most-viewed sport in the world after soccer — India star Virat Kohli has 268 million Instagram followers — but it is only played by more than 200,000 Americans nationwide across more than 400 local leagues, according to USA Cricket, which oversees the men’s national cricket team.

Major League Cricket launched last year in the US with six professional T20 teams, including a New York franchise that, for now, plays some games at a Dallas-area stadium also hosting World Cup matches.

Venu Pisike, the chairman of USA Cricket, believes the T20 World Cup — the first time the US has competed in the tournament — will mark a turning point.

The sport is among those slated for the 2028 summer Olympics in Los Angeles — its first appearance at the games in more than a century, he noted. The International Cricket Council, the sport’s governing body, has also committed to growing the US market.

“Cricket is predominantly viewed as an expat sport, but things will look very different in the next 10, 20 years,” said Pisike. “Americans will definitely change their mindset and approach in terms of developing cricket.”

Both the Los Angeles games and the upcoming World Cup, which the US is co-hosting with the West Indies, will feature a modern variant of the game known as “Twenty20” that lasts around three hours and is highlighted by aggressive batters swinging away for homerun-like “sixes.” 

It’s considered more approachable to casual fans than traditional formats, which can last one to five days when batters typically take a more cautious approach. Twenty20 is the format used in the hugely popular Indian Premier League.

Eisenhower Park will host half the games played in the US, including a headlining clash of cricket titans Pakistan and India on June 9.

Other matches in the 55-game, 20-nation tournament that kicks off June 1 will be played on existing cricket fields in Texas and Florida. Later rounds take place in Antigua, Trinidad and other Caribbean nations, with the final in Barbados on June 29.

Cricket has a long history in the US and New York, in particular.

The sport was played by American troops during the Revolutionary War, and the first international match was held in Manhattan between the city’s St. George’s Cricket Club and Canada in 1844, according to Stephen Holroyd, a Philadelphia-area cricket historian.

As late as 1855, New York newspapers were still devoting more coverage to cricket than baseball, but the sport remained stubbornly insular, with British-only cricket clubs hindering its growth just as baseball was taking off, he said.

By the end of World War I, cricket had largely disappeared — until immigrants from India and other former British colonies helped revive it roughly half a century later.

Anubhav Chopra, a co-founder of the Long Island Premier League, a nearly 15-year-old men’s league that plays in another local park, is among the more than 700,000 Indian Americans in the New York City area — by far the largest community of its kind in the country.

The Babylon resident has never been to a professional cricket match but has tried to share his love for the game he played growing up in New Delhi with his three American children, including his 9-year-old son who takes cricket lessons.

Chopra bought tickets to all nine games taking place at Eisenhower and is taking his wife, kids and grandparents to the June 3 match between Sri Lanka and South Africa.

“For me, cricket is life,” he said. “This as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

The dense latticework of metal rods and wood sheets that make up Eisenhower’s modular stadium will come down soon after the cup games end, but the cricket field will remain, minus the rectangular surface in the middle known as the pitch.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said what’s left lays a “world-class” foundation for local cricket teams — and perhaps a future home for a professional team.


PM calls Azad Kashmir protests ‘worrisome’ as $82 million subsidy doled out to region

Updated 42 min 12 sec ago
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PM calls Azad Kashmir protests ‘worrisome’ as $82 million subsidy doled out to region

  • The prime minister says his government tried to resolve people’s issues quickly, announcing $82 million subsidy
  • The unprecedented protest broke out in the semi-autonomous region due to increase in flour price, power tariffs

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday described the recent protests in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) as “worrisome,” saying they were carried out by people who were striving for their rights democratically, though there were also elements within them whose sole objective was to destabilize the region.

The prime minister issued the statement during a daylong visit to the picturesque Himalayan territory where he held official meetings and addressed the AJK cabinet meeting in Muzaffarabad. The visit came just a few days after a massive public protest in the region resulted in four fatalities.

The unprecedented protests against price hikes broke out last Friday and spread across the semi-autonomous area under Pakistan’s administration. One police officer was killed while three protesters lost their lives in clashes taking place in different parts of the region.

“Recent days were very worrisome when a movement was going on [in Azad Kashmir],” Sharif said while addressing the AJK cabinet members. “Certainly, among those driving this movement were individuals who, with their legitimate demands, were fulfilling their duty in a democratic manner. However, it cannot be denied that there were some malicious elements whose sole purpose was to cause destruction, loss of human lives and create chaos in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.”

The Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which organized the demonstrations, announced an end to the protests on Tuesday after the Sharif administration approved subsidies to provide relief to people who objected to the increase in flour prices and electricity tariffs.

“We tried to resolve the issue in the best possible way and with urgency by meeting the demands of the people,” the prime minister continued, adding that his government had called a meeting earlier in the week on Monday to announce Rs23 billion ($82 million) to help the people of the region.

“Pakistan instructed the State Bank on 16th [of May] to send Rs23 billion amount to Azad Kashmir,” Sharif said. ” And as I speak to you now today, Rs23 billion have been transferred to Azad Kashmir’s account.” 

“This amount has been transferred to the AJK government today by the State Bank of Pakistan,” he said.

Sharif said the progress of Pakistan was linked with the progress of Kashmir and its people while noting that the two regions would prosper together.

He informed the cabinet that as soon as a visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) team would leave Pakistan, both the minister and secretary of power division would visit the region to solve the pending issues on a permanent basis so that such protests could be avoided in the future.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947, with both countries ruling part of the territory, but claiming it in full.

The recent protests in AJK were unprecedented since the area has largely remained peaceful in the past.