RASC News Agency: The Pakistani government has announced its decision to expel Afghanistani refugees from Islamabad, the country’s capital. According to The Japan Times, Pakistani authorities have granted tens of thousands of Afghanistani asylum seekers a deadline until March to vacate the city entirely. The report further states that Afghanistani migrants with legal residency permits have been instructed to relocate to other cities within Pakistan. Meanwhile, those without proper documentation have been warned that they will be forcibly repatriated to Afghanistan.
At present, tens of thousands of Afghanistani refugees remain stranded in Pakistan, awaiting resettlement in Western countries. However, Pakistani security officials have accused them of participating in public demonstrations. This development coincides with a marked escalation in insecurity within Pakistan following the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan. Notably, since the Taliban’s resurgence, millions of Afghanistani citizens have fled the country, escaping the regime’s politically motivated reprisals, ethnic persecution, ideological oppression, and the devastating effects of poverty and unemployment. The majority sought refuge in neighboring Iran and Pakistan.
Western nations have left thousands of Afghanistani refugees in limbo in Pakistan, as the processing of their resettlement cases remains sluggish and bureaucratically entangled. Meanwhile, Islamabad’s relations with the Taliban have visibly deteriorated. Rather than reassessing its past policies, the Pakistani government is now actively working to deport thousands of Afghanistani migrants a move that holds little consequence for the Taliban regime.
The forced return of these refugees raises grave concerns, as many face the imminent threat of arrest, torture, and execution at the hands of the Taliban.
