According to Pakistani figures, more than 140,000 Afghans have left the country – after the government announced that it would deport everyone without valid papers. According to aid organizations, those affected lack the bare necessities.
After the Pakistani government threatened to implement thousands of deportations, authorities say more than 140,000 Afghans have left the country. The deadline expired yesterday. Around 30,000 Afghan refugees left the country within 24 hours, representatives of the Pakistani border provinces said.
The Pakistani authorities are taking tough action against refugees. They demolished a refugee settlement in the capital Islamabad. Deportation centers have been set up in large parts of Pakistan. According to the Pakistani refugee authority, refugees are also being arrested. However, this also affects people with residence status.
The Pakistani government wants to deport refugees without residence status who have not left the country by the end of October. The measure primarily affects people from neighboring Afghanistan, which is ruled by the Islamist Taliban and who make up the largest proportion of irregular migrants in Pakistan. According to government figures, around 4.4 million Afghan refugees were currently living in the country, 1.7 million of them without valid papers.
Queue at the border crossing
A kilometer-long queue of trucks and people formed at the important Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, as a reporter from the dpa news agency reported. “We know there will be darkness there,” said an Afghan woman among those waiting. She sees a difficult future in her homeland, which is dominated by the Islamist Taliban. “I’m worried about my daughters.”
The radical Islamic Taliban announced that they had set up accommodation for returnees in the border region. Tents could be seen in images published by Taliban media.
A police officer escorts an Afghan national who police said was undocumented.
Interior Minister emphasized “Determination”
Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti presented the deportation of 64 Afghans on Platform X as evidence of the government’s determination to make the deportation announcement come true. “This action is a testament to Pakistan’s determination to repatriate all those present in the country without proper documentation,” Bugti wrote.
The Interior Minister cited a worsening security situation as the reason for the deportations. In addition to a severe economic crisis, Pakistan is struggling with a strengthening of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP). According to the government, Afghan refugees are also responsible for this. The deportations take place a few months before the parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for early February.
“Serious concerns” about winter
The aid organization Save the Children expects that many Afghan families will have to spend the winter in camps in the border region because they no longer have a place to return to since fleeing Afghanistan, said managing director Florian Westphal.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) also said that the Afghans who were now returning to their home country had no place to go. The three aid organizations shared “grave concerns about the survival and reintegration prospects of returnees from Pakistan into Afghan society, particularly as winter approaches,” they said.
Great need for more international Help
According to your knowledge, 9,000 to 10,000 people are currently arriving in Afghanistan every day. The conditions are catastrophic. Many of the Afghans have had arduous journeys lasting several days during which they were exposed to the weather. They were often forced to give up their property in exchange for transportation options. At the same time, the recent increase in returnees is straining the resources of aid organizations and the fragile infrastructure in Afghanistan. There is a great need for international help.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed his concern, according to his spokesman. In many respects, Afghanistan is not prepared to take in the people again.