Hundreds of Afghans are now rushing to border crossing points as Pakistani authorities have intensified the repatriation process. On April 8, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) put the number of Afghans expelled by Pakistan in the past one week at 9,000. However, several reports in Pakistani newspapers suggested that thousands of Afghans are now being rounded up all over the country.
In all four provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistani officials are visiting areas inhabited by Afghans. With grace period of Eid over, these officials are pushing the Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders and others into holding camps which have been set up. In the last round of expulsions, in late 2023, over 8,00,000 Afghans had been thrown out of their homes and hearths.
Striking a discordant note at variance with the Federal government of Pakistan, KP Chief Minister Aman Ali Gandapur has said that his government will not force the Afghan refugees to go back. He said it will help those who voluntarily want to leave but not allow any forcible deportations. Incidentally, the maximum number of Afghan refugees is presently living in KP.
In the latest round which is picking up momentum now, Pakistan plans to repatriate as many as 20 lakh (2 million) Afghans back into Afghanistan. All Afghan nationals who have no legal documents to stay or those holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) had been warned by Islamabad to return home or face deportation. The deadline for leaving Pakistan voluntarily expired on March 31 and very few Afghans had left by then.
According to officials of various intelligence agencies, all provinces have been asked to set up temporary centres in various cities to house the Afghan nationals. From these centres, all identified Afghans would then be sent back to Afghanistan via Torkham and other border points meant for crossing. The worst hit are educated Afghan women who had escaped Afghanistan when Taliban took over in August 2021. They dread the prospect of going back to Afghanistan where they can’t work, or get an education. However, Pakistan has washed its hands off them pushing them towards a dark and bleak future.
An average of 4,000 Afghans crossed the border from Pakistan on Sunday and Monday. This was “far higher than the daily average during the month of March of just 77”, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said. The average daily expulsion rate will grow exponentially as Pakistani authorities begin to crack the whip and ensure compliance of their expulsion plans, according to The News International.
Lakhs of Afghan refugees
During the last over 40 years, at least 30 lakh Afghans are believed to have taken shelter in Pakistan, according to the UN. The latest exodus from Afghanistan into Pakistan had happened after Taliban’s seized power. The first mass exodus into Pakistan had started after USSR (presently Russia) invaded Afghanistan in December 1979. Senior Pakistani leaders have said that they plan to accelerate the drive to repatriate all Afghans in the coming days.
For over last two years, bilateral relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been steadily going downhill. The main reason are the countless attacks on Pakistani security forces by Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP) armed men, mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. The year 2024 had seen virtual carnage with even some areas believed to be strongholds of Pakistan Army, including Bannu Cantonment, coming under attack.
Time and again, the Pakistani government has urged the Taliban government in Kabul to curb the activities of the TTP men. However, the Kabul government has denied that their soil was being used by the TTP men to launch attacks on Pakistan. Despite these disclaimers, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has, on more than one occasion, attacked what it believed to be TTP strongholds in Afghanistan territory. These PAF attacks which led to dozens of deaths in Afghanistan led to deterioration of relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
TTP attacks are trigger
It may be mentioned here that all Pakistani newspapers are now calling TTP as Khwarij as they have been told officially asked to do so. All appeals by senior Taliban leadership to Pakistani authorities to ensure “dignified return of all Afghan citizens’’ appear to have failed. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is a mute spectator to all this as behind the scenes it is a policy decision taken by Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir.
Kabul has termed the repatriation as forced deportation. “There is no doubt that the forced deportation of Afghan migrants and this unilateral action is against all international, Islamic, and neighbourly principles,” Abdul Motalib Haqqani, a spokesman for the Afghan ministry of migration and repatriation, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Since this matter concerns two countries, it is essential to work on a mutually agreed mechanism to ensure the dignified return of Afghans to their homeland,” he said.
Humanitarian crisis for Taliban
According to most reports emanating from Afghanistan, there is abject poverty prevailing in most areas and food is scarce. To handle thousands of Afghans facing forced deportations is going to be a severe test for the Taliban government. It is in firm control of most of Afghanistan but the heavy influx of refugees is something which is likely to put a strain on the government.
It needs to be mentioned that the Pakistan government had, in August 2021, welcomed the Taliban ousting US-backed Ghani Khan government. The reason was because the Haqqanis, which Pakistan had nurtured for several years, had got top slots in the Taliban government. To a large extent, the Taliban victory over the western forces was orchestrated by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). The Pakistani authorities had expected to use Taliban against India but this is something they have not succeeded in doing.
Contrary to ISI’s expectations, and plans, Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund became the acting prime minister of Afghanistan though it would preferred a Haqqani to take over that position. Incidentally, the Taliban government formed in September 2021 still prefers to call itself as “interim government’’ and has not been recognised by any nation worldwide.
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