RASC News Agency: The request submitted by human rights groups to prevent the expulsion of Afghanistani migrants who were born in Pakistan and those who are at risk if they are returned to Afghanistan will be considered in a hearing by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. This comes after Pakistan’s announcement in October to expel over 1,000,000 refugees and undocumented immigrants, primarily Afghanistani, amidst a dispute with Kabul over allegations of harboring anti-Pakistani armed groups. Pakistan claims that most of the Afghanistani citizens left voluntarily, a statement that Kabul has denied, criticizing Pakistan’s actions as unilateral and humiliating.
Umer Ijaz Gilani, the lawyer representing the human rights activists, has urgently requested the court expedite the hearing of this case due to the daily suffering of thousands of people. Many undocumented Afghanistanis have gone into hiding in Pakistan to avoid deportation, fearing for their lives if they are forced to return to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan following the chaotic withdrawal of US-led Western forces in 2021. Pakistan has been a host to approximately 1.7 million Afghanistani migrants, with a significant influx occurring during the Soviet occupation from 1979 to 1989 and the recent Taliban takeover in August 2021, which led to the displacement of an additional half a million people from Afghanistan.
The policy implemented by Pakistan has faced widespread condemnation from human rights activists, United Nations officials, and others, who have urged Islamabad to reconsider its stance. The petition to the Supreme Court was filed in response to reports that the police, for arrest and deportation on a daily basis, were targeting 10,000 Afghanistani citizens in Balochistan, a southwestern province of Pakistan. Gilani argued before the Supreme Court that the interim government lacks the authority to introduce such significant policy changes, emphasizing that the government will remain in place until the February elections.
