On Wednesday, Pakistani authorities initiated a crackdown, and began the process of detaining individuals without proper documentation in the country, the majority of whom are Afghan immigrants. This development has led to increasing anxieties among Afghans who face a critical dilemma: the risk of being sent back to Afghanistan, where the Taliban regime is in power.
The interior ministry of Pakistan, in its announcement, encouraged citizens to alert the authorities about the presence of undocumented foreigners residing in their areas. The interior minister asserted that there would be “No compromise on deportation after [the November 1] deadline”.
In response to these detentions, various politicians and human rights organizations petitioned the Supreme Court of Pakistan, requesting the court to declare these actions as “unlawful and against constitutional law”.
On Tuesday, UN human rights experts urged Pakistan to halt its planned mass deportations. Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), stated on Friday that Pakistan’s decision to expel the remaining “undocumented” foreigners post-November 1 disproportionately impacts more than one million undocumented Afghans in the country and asked Pakistan to suspend such actions. Last week, Pakistan’s Interim Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti issued a warning
to “illegal immigrants” to voluntarily exit the country by November 1 or face possible detention and deportation.
These actions by the Pakistan authorities risk forcing thousands of Afghans back into the grip of the Taliban. Messages by those fearing for their lives revealed
their predicaments. This situation also poses a harsh threat to many Afghans who sought refuge in Pakistan long before the Taliban regained control in Afghanistan in 2021.
Members of the UK Parliament expressed their concern over the situation, with some having written to their government for urgent attention. In August, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a statement rejecting the notion that the Taliban had “reformed”.
Fereshta Abassi, an Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, remarked upon Pakistan’s “anti-refugee crackdown to coerce the mass return of Afghans”, urging nations that have promised to help at-risk Afghans with resettlement to press Pakistan to halt its actions, and for these countries to fulfill their own pledges to resettle Afghan refugees.