Pakistan wants to deport more refugees without residency status. Humanitarian organizations warn of a crisis for those returning to Afghanistan.
Given the threat of mass deportation from Pakistan, the flow of Afghan refugees towards their homeland continues. As Pakistani authorities in the border region told the German Press Agency on Friday, around 24,000 Afghans left Pakistan on Thursday. On Friday there was once again a long line of men, women, children and trucks waiting at the Torkham border crossing, the most important checkpoint between the two countries.
Meanwhile, at least five people died and more than 15 were injured in an attack on a police unit in Pakistan. A local police spokesman told the German Press Agency on Friday. The crime occurred in the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. A bomb was attached to a parked motorcycle, the police spokesman described the events.
Pakistan is increasingly fighting attacks
Pakistan is currently grappling with increased attacks by militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban (TTP). Despite ideological proximity, the TTP is independent from the Taliban government in neighboring Afghanistan. However, Pakistan accuses the Taliban, who rule Afghanistan, of providing protection to the TTP on its territory.
In this context, the Pakistani government wants to deport refugees without residence status – especially from Afghanistan. According to government data, around 4.4 million Afghan refugees were recently living in Pakistan, 1.7 million of them without valid documents. According to authorities, more than 190,000 Afghans have already left the country before the November 1 deadline.
A few months before the parliamentary elections in Pakistan
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan are tense. In a meeting with the UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Rosa Otunbayeva, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi accused the Pakistani side of using refugees for its own benefit, as reported by the Taliban news agency Bakhtar.
The deportations take place a few months before the parliamentary elections in February. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti cited the worsening security situation as the reason. In addition to a serious economic crisis, Pakistan is also struggling with the strengthening of the Taliban in its own country (TTP). The government also blames Afghan refugees for this.
Afghanistan is in a serious humanitarian crisis
Humanitarian organizations warn of critical conditions for returnees as winter approaches. Many families would have no place in Afghanistan to return to and would likely have to spend the winter in camps in the border region. Furthermore, Afghanistan is already in a serious humanitarian crisis. The World Food Program announced on the online platform X that 400 million euros were needed to help Afghan families during the winter.
Pakistani authorities have been taking tough action against refugees since Wednesday. Several deportation centers were created. The Pakistani refugee authority reported arrests that also affected people with residency status. (APA)