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Pakistan PM urges world to be mindful of security threats country faces in hosting refugees

UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, calls on Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on July 9, 2024. (Government of Pakistan)
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Updated 09 July 2024
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Pakistan PM urges world to be mindful of security threats country faces in hosting refugees

  • PM Shehbaz Sharif meets UN high commissioner for refugees to discuss deportation of Afghan refugees
  • Pakistan last year kicked off deportation drive targeting undocumented migrants after surge in suicide attacks
Updated 09 July 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday urged the international community to be mindful of security threats and socio-economic challenges that Pakistan faces in hosting a “large” Afghan refugee population, a statement from the premier’s office said as he met United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi in Islamabad. 

Millions of Afghans fled their homeland over the past four decades to escape war and poverty, most settling in Pakistan or Iran. Pakistan’s government launched a deportation drive last year against undocumented migrants, mostly Afghan refugees, after a spike in suicide bombings which the Pakistan government blamed on Afghan nationals without providing evidence. Islamabad also says Afghans are involved in smuggling, militant violence and other crimes. 

The deportation drive also took place as cash-strapped Pakistan navigated record inflation alongside a tough International Monetary Fund bailout program last year. Islamabad had also said undocumented migrants had drained its resources for decades. State media said last month Pakistan has so far repatriated over 620,000 Afghan refugees since last year. 

Grandi is on an official visit to Pakistan from July 7-9 to meet high-ranking government officials and Afghan refugees. The UNHCR official met Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday during which both sides discussed a wide range of issues relating to the global refugee situation, with a particular focus on Afghan refugees, Pakistan’s foreign office said. 

“While reaffirming Pakistan’s commitment to address protection and safety needs of people in vulnerable situations, the Prime Minister underscored that the international community needed to be mindful of the socio-economic challenges and security threats being faced by Pakistan in this regard,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement. 

Sharif told Grandi that the international community needed to recognize the burden that Pakistan shoulders while hosting such a “large” refugee population, adding that it also needed to demonstrate collective responsibility in this regard. 

He sought the UNHCR’s support in mobilizing resources to host Afghan refugees and urged it to play its role in promoting durable solutions to address the situation. The Pakistani prime minister told Grandi that despite several challenges, Pakistan hosted Afghan refugees with “exemplary respect and dignity” for over four decades. 

“The UN High Commissioner expressed gratitude for Pakistan’s generosity and hospitality in hosting millions of Afghan refugees for the past many decades and assured that UNHCR would continue to work closely with Pakistan to fulfill the basic needs of the Afghan refugees,” the PMO said. 

Pakistan’s move to deport thousands of Afghan refugees has also strained its ties with the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan. The Afghan government, which is struggling to deal with an influx of its citizens returning from Pakistan, has urged Islamabad to treat Afghan nationals respectfully.

Topics: Pakistan PM security threats

Pakistan says multilateralism in peril, urges global powers to prioritize diplomacy over confrontation

Updated 8 sec ago
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Pakistan says multilateralism in peril, urges global powers to prioritize diplomacy over confrontation

  • The country tells the UN international security system is eroding, asks rival blocs to return to dialogue
  • It emphasizes lowering of international tensions, rebuilding of channels of communication among states
Updated 8 sec ago
UROOSA JADOON

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan warned the world community on Monday that multilateralism was “in peril” amid rising global tensions, urging major powers to revive diplomacy and dialogue to prevent a further breakdown in international security.

Speaking at a UN Security Council briefing, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said the world was drifting toward confrontation at a time when cooperative mechanisms were weakening.

His comments came during a session addressed by Finland’s foreign minister Elina Valtonen, chairing the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the world’s largest regional security body.

Formed out of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the OSCE was designed during the Cold War to reduce tensions, uphold principles of sovereignty and human rights and promote mechanisms for peaceful dispute resolution.

“Today, the foundational ethos of international relations, multilateralism, cooperation and indivisible security, as envisaged in the preamble of Helsinki Final Act, is perhaps facing its biggest challenge in decades,” Ahmed said. “The OSCE, too, is navigating a difficult geopolitical landscape, with conflict raging in the heart of Europe for nearly four years, depletion of trust and unprecedented strains on peaceful co-existence.”

He said a return to the “Helsinki spirit” of dialogue, confidence-building and cooperative security was urgently needed, not only in Europe but globally.

“This is not a matter of choice but a strategic imperative to lower tensions, rebuild essential channels of communication, and demonstrate that comprehensive security is best preserved through cooperative instruments, and not by the pursuit of hegemony and domination through military means,” he said. “Objective, inclusive, impartial, and principle-based approaches are indispensable for success.”

Ahmed’s statement came in a year when Pakistan itself fought a brief but intense war after India launched missile strikes at its city in May following a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. New Delhi blamed Pakistan for the assault, an allegation Islamabad denied while calling for a transparent international investigation.

The Pakistani diplomat said the international system was increasingly defined by bloc politics, mistrust and militarization, warning that such trends undermine both regional stability and the authority of multilateral institutions, including the UN itself.

He urged member states to invest more in preventive diplomacy and the peaceful settlement of disputes as reaffirmed by the Council in Resolution 2788.

Ahmad said Pakistan hoped the OSCE would continue reinforcing models of cooperative security and that the Security Council would back partnerships that strengthen international law and the credibility of multilateral frameworks.

The path forward, he added, required “choosing cooperation over confrontation, dialogue over division, and inclusive security over bloc-based divides.”

Topics: Pakistan in United Nations Asim Iftikhar Ahmad

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