Everyone seems to be in a hurry to forget on November 26, of those who were behind him to those who faced the worst part of him.
The government must feel relieved that there is talk of so little, while PTI’s leadership in Parliament or in the Government in KP is also reluctant to stir on the subject. But apart from the fight of Pti-Gubernamental, this event had serious implications for a much more vulnerable group: Afghan refugees in Islamabad.
His victimization came to light shortly after the protest ended. For example, after the event, human rights lawyers such as Imaan Mazari stressed that discriminatory treatment is imposed on the population of refugees and Pakhtun of the capital and accused the legal authorities of racial profiles.
It was said that the people of Pakhtun poor and vulnerable had been collected from different parts of the city, since officials tried to demonstrate their effectiveness in maintaining security and sending a message to all and diverse on the ‘hazards’ of protests streets.
Such statements were also credits for anecdotal accounts that made the rounds of the city, since friends and colleagues told stories of their friends and colleagues that the police arrested randomly, everything they had in common was their ethnicity. But even within this ‘racial profile’, there is a hierarchy, since refugees are the most vulnerable. And this stands out in a draft of the report that has been prepared by the JAC for refugees, Karachi.
According to documents such as FIR collected from the various police stations in Islamabad, the report says that 540 people were arrested during PTI protest and later, of which 86 were Afghan citizens. According to the report, most of the refugees collected were residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and were arrested during their trip to work or back. Most of them were young men under 25 years.
A 19 -year -old quoted in history explains how it was collected when he came out to visit the pharmacy. “I went to the pharmacy in the I-10 Islamabad sector. A policeman stopped me outside the market and took me to a truck without saying a word. Later in the day, I found myself at the Shams police station in Islamabad and discovered that they had booked me for having participated in PTI’s protest. ”
It is a worrying statement that accusing Afghan refugees of serious crimes is the norm.
Some of those arrested were not even guilty of leaving their homes. A 20 -year -old, according to the report, was collected when a midnight raid was carried out in the fire in which he lived. “The police threw me with my bed and arrested me. I ended up in the blockade and then discovered that I now faced charges for terrorism. “It was collected on November 29.
However, it seems that the operation to pick up people began a few days before PTI’s protesters entered Islamabad. For example, a young man quoted in the report said he was collected on November 23 when he returned home. According to him, a police officer stopped him in a check post; The appearance of the refugee was enough for the police to make the decision.
When the 21 -year -old tried to resist, he was threatened because he would be accused of a “non -feasible” crime. The young man spent three days at the police station before being accused. The report indicates that most of the refugees who were collected were daily salary workers who make a living in wholesale vegetables.
The draft of the report also quotes those who claim that bribes were asked to be released and not accused of crimes. While some of them were able to pay strong amounts, many others could not and continue to make their way through the judicial process.
But more worrying is the claim that detaining Afghan refugees and accusing them of serious crimes has become the norm, which implies that this is not limited to a particular event.
And this is a problem that needs more attention. After all, since the change of the regime in Kabul and the decision in Islamabad to return to refugees, Afghan refugees have become more and more in part of the political discourse, in a way that was not apparent before. For example, recent decisions to send them back to Pakistan were linked to terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
Government officials affirmed that the decision was made because Afghan citizens had been involved in terrorist attacks; In 2023, when this decision was announced, the then Interior Minister, Sarfraz Bugti, made this connection in his statements. Although many analysis of the decision pointed out that perhaps it was derived from the desire for Islamabad to press Kabul to prevent TTP from addressing Pakistan.
He did not stop here. Before, during and after November 26, the government and other officials, in their effort to undermine PTI’s protest, played the ethnic angle. And while there was and there is still the idea that a province, KP, is attacking the center and/ or punjab, the officials also claimed that the PTI was bringing Afghan to Islamabad during the protest.
In fact, once the Dharna He had ended, a story reached electronic news channels in which different young men confessed to the camera that they were illegal refugees who had been paid to participate in the protest; In addition, they also admitted acts of violence during that period, such as damaging the property or attacking the law personnel.
If this was done to belittle the PTI or to undermine the protest without alienating the Pakhtunns, it still does not be clear. However, what he has and will continue to disseminate this idea that refugees are linked to violence.
And as the fight with the PTI continues as with the government in Kabul, this “orientation” of refugees does not stop, verbally or shares.
The writer is a journalist.
Posted in Dawn, February 4, 2025
