The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has disclosed that nearly 60,000 Afghan refugees have been forcibly deported from Pakistan since April. This development coincides with Pakistan’s implementation of a nationwide effort to expel foreign nationals, irrespective of their legal status, under the banner of national security. This significant increase in deportations aligns with the second phase of Pakistan’s Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP), despite criticism from bodies like Amnesty International, which has deemed the plan as opaque.
The Pakistani government has faced accusations for its lack of sufficient legal justification in its firm stance towards Afghan refugees. Discriminatory rhetoric against these refugees has escalated, with terms like ‘traitors’ and ‘terrorists’ being persistently used against them. To exacerbate matters, Interior Minister Moshin Naqvi announced a mandatory requirement of a no-objection certificate (NOC) for Afghan refugees to reside in Islamabad, a document that is notably difficult to obtain.
While assurances were given to the Supreme Court of Pakistan that legally documented Afghan refugees would remain unaffected, the UNHCR has indicated that even documented refugees are experiencing evictions and arrests. Refugees subjected to deportation face considerable challenges in Afghanistan, including the danger posed by the Taliban regime and limited access to essential resources. Women and girls, in particular, face losing their educational rights if returned to a Taliban-governed Afghanistan, a situation highlighted by UN reports.
Historically, the turbulence in the Pakistan-Afghanistan relationship, characterized by mounting border area militancy, has exacerbated this humanitarian issue. The current deportations heavily criticize Pakistan for violating international human rights agreements, such as the 1951 Refugee Convention, which identifies the principle of non-refoulement in Article 33. Pakistan, however, is not a signatory of this Convention. It is anticipated that countries like the United States, alongside the wider international community, will intensify efforts to pressure Pakistan into reevaluating its current policies towards Afghan refugees.
For further developments on this issue, readers can follow the continued coverage of the IOM’s findings and the international response to these deportations in the original report by JURIST.