Pakistan Speeds Up Afghan Refugee Expulsions
Local officials in Nangarhar say that in the past week, 120 families and 215 Afghan migrants have been forcibly returned to Afghanistan through the Torkham crossing.
According to reports, on Saturday night, the Pakistani government expelled 141 Afghan migrants, many of whom had legal documents.
“120 families, including 550 individuals, along with 215 deported migrants, have been returned from Pakistan to Afghanistan via the Torkham crossing,” said Baz Mohammad Abdul Rahman, head of the Nangarhar Directorate of Refugees and Repatriation.
Some of these migrants have complained about mistreatment and harassment by Pakistani security forces.
“They expelled us and started oppressing us. I was arrested in Islamabad, and in prison, they only gave us one meal, just lentils,” said Gulzada, a deported migrant.
“I was in prison for three days. During this time, they only gave me one meal, and I was beaten four times,” stated Sharifullah, another deported migrant.
“I was arrested in Islamabad. In prison, they neither gave us food nor allowed us to buy food with our own money,” said Sher Agha, another deported migrant.
Meanwhile, officials at the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan have announced that in the past two months, the arrest of Afghan migrants in Islamabad and Rawalpindi has intensified.
“For the past two months, the arrest of Afghan migrants in Islamabad and Rawalpindi has continued in various forms. Just yesterday, arrests took place in many areas. In recent days, Islamabad police have detained dozens of Afghan migrants. A letter from the Pakistani Prime Minister’s Office has been circulated on social media, instructing that all Afghan migrants with ACC cards, UNHCR refugees, and other Afghans with legal documents should be expelled from Islamabad and Rawalpindi and sent back to Afghanistan, said Sardar Ahmad Shakeeb, acting ambassador of the Islamic Emirate in Islamabad.
According to information from the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad, the Pakistani government has decided to expel all Afghan migrants from Islamabad and Rawalpindi in the short term and return them to Afghanistan.
