The convoys of Afghan pressed to leave Pakistan are leading to the border, fearing the “humiliation” of the arrest, since the repression of the government against migrants sees broad public support.
Islamabad wants to deport 800,000 Afghas after canceling its residence permits, the second phase of a deportation program that has already expelled around 800,000 undocumented Afghans since 2023.
According to the UN Agency for refugees, more than 24,665 Afghan have left Pakistan since April 1, 10,741 of which they were deported.
“People say the police will come and carry out raids. That is fear. Everyone is worried about that,” said Rahmat Ullah, an Afghan migrant in Karachi. AFP.
“For a man with a family, nothing is worse than seeing the police get their women out of their home.
Abdul Shah Bukhari, community leader in one of the largest informal Afghan settlements in Karachi, has seen multiple buses to leave daily for the Afghan border about 700 kilometers away.
The labyrinth of improvised houses has grown up for decades with the arrival of families fleeing successive wars in Afghanistan. But now, he said: “People voluntarily go.”
“What is the need to cause anguish or harassment?” Bukhari said.
‘Harassed every day’
Ghulam Hazrat, a truck driver, said he arrived at the crossing of the Chaman’s border after days of police harassment in Karachi. “We had to leave our house behind. We harassed each other every day.”
In Peshawar, the Police go up to the mosquita mining to order the Afghan to leave: “The stay of Afghan citizens in Pakistan has expired. They are asked to return to Afghanistan voluntarily.”
Police warnings are not only aimed at Afghans but also to owners.
“Two policemen came to my house on Sunday and told me that if there are national Afghan who live here, they should be evicted,” said Farhan Ahmad AFP.
Human Rights Watch has criticized the “abusive tactics” used to press Afghans to return to their country, “where they risk persecution by the Taliban and face terrible economic conditions.”
In September 2023, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans crossed the border to Afghanistan in the days prior to a deadline to leave, after weeks of police raids and the demolition of households.
‘That is his country’
After decades of organizing millions of Afghan refugees, there is broad support among the public for deportations.
“They eat here, they live here, but they are against us. Terrorism comes from there (Afghanistan), and they should leave; that is their country. We did a lot for them,” said Pervaiz Akhtar, a university teacher, he said AFP In a market in Islamabad.
“Come with a valid visa, and then come to do business with us,” said Muhammad Shafiq, a 55 -year -old businessman.
His opinions echo the government, which for months has blamed the growing violence in the border regions of the “perpetrators supported by Afghanos” and argued that the country can no longer support such a large migrant population.
However, analysts have said that the deportation campaign is political.
Relationships between Kabul and Islamabad have been grated since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
“The moment and shape of their deportation indicate that it is part of Pakistan’s policy of growing pressure on the Taliban,” said Maleeha Lodhi, the former permanent representative of Pakistan at the UN. AFP. “This should have been done in a human, voluntary and gradual way.”
