RASC News Agency: International Amnesty Organization, in response to the detention, harassment, and forced expulsion of Afghanistani refugees from Pakistan, recently has issued a statement urging Pakistan to immediately end its actions against Afghanistani refugees. According to the statement released by Amnesty International, quoting Livia Saccardi, the Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, published yesterday (November 10), thousands of Afghanistani, especially women and girls, are at risk of being deprived of access to security, education, and livelihood if the Pakistani government does not immediately halt the forced expulsion of Afghanistani refugees.
She further emphasized that no individual should be expelled “en masse” and highlighted that it is imperative for Pakistan to uphold its international legal obligations, including the principle of non-refoulement, and put an end to the harassment, persecution, and forced expulsion of Afghanistani refugees. Amnesty International also stated in its announcement that Pakistan has restricted journalists’ access to dozens of detention centers for Afghanistani migrants, and these centers lack a specific legal framework, depriving migrants in some of them from the right to legal counsel or communication with their families.
The organization underscored that “to prevent further escalation of this crisis, Pakistan must immediately halt the forced expulsion of Afghanistani refugees.”
According to Amnesty International’s statement, since September 17, 170,000 Afghanistani migrants and refugees have been expelled from Pakistan, and since November 1, the police have been directly detaining them as “illegal” under the 1946 law, far beyond registration procedures.
This comes in the wake of concerns expressed by several international organizations and bodies regarding the detention and forced expulsion of Afghanistani refugees from Pakistan, urging the country multiple times to halt the forced expulsion of Afghanistani refugees.
