In the crossfire: Afghans facing deportation from Pakistan
Written by Ayesha Mirza
Photo: Afghan refugee in Pakistan hands in her ‘Proof of Registration card’ / European Union/ECHO/Pierre Prakash / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
For decades, Pakistan has been a refuge for millions of Afghans fleeing conflict and persecution. However, the situation for Afghan refugees in Pakistan has grown increasingly dire. With fluctuating policies and a lack of legal protections, many Afghans now face deportation, thrusting them into a precarious existence.
During the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, millions of Afghans fled to Pakistan. Since then, movement across the Durand Line — the Afghanistan-Pakistan border — has continued regularly, especially during the US invasion in 2001 and after the fall of Kabul in 2021. Despite the 1988 Geneva Accords between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which aimed to repatriate Afghan citizens, many Afghans chose to build their lives in Pakistan, however neither country has definitive laws concerning border movement.
After the 2001 US invasion, nearly 4.4 million refugees voluntarily repatriated to Afghanistan under a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) scheme. Even though UNHCR increased cash incentives for voluntary repatriation after the latest Taliban takeover, only 6,000 Afghans returned to Afghanistan in 2022.
Most of the 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan were born in the country, yet they face significant challenges without a path to citizenship. The procedure to become a registered refugee in Pakistan is fraught with challenges affecting their mobility and livelihoods. Proof of Registration (PoR) cards issued by the Pakistani government grant temporary legal status and protection from deportation, however, these have not been consistently renewed, leaving many Afghans in a state of legal limbo and vulnerability. Additionally, the UNHCR issued tokens to those who fled to Pakistan after the fall of Kabul in 2021, but these are not recognised by the Pakistani government, further complicating their legal status.
The insecure status of Afghan refugees
“The lack of a national policy for Afghan refugees creates significant legal challenges for them,” says Samar Abbas, the co-founder of the Joint Action Committee for Refugees and a lawyer based in Karachi. “Pakistan is not a signatory to any international refugee conventions and has not implemented a regulatory framework to protect the rights of refugees and migrants”, Abbas adds. This leaves Afghans in a vulnerable position as their wellbeing in the country is subject to the changing policies of the ruling government.
In October 2023, former Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti announced that all migrants without legal status had until 1st November 2023 to either leave or face deportation. He said at the time that an estimated 1.7 million Afghans were among those illegally residing in the country. The deportations were prompted by a resurgence of terrorist attacks in Pakistan following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, with Pakistan blaming the Taliban government for not effectively controlling cross-border terrorism and failing to rein in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
In 2022, authorities in the southern province of Sindh dismantled highway robbery gangs, some of whose members were undocumented Afghans. Subsequently, government and police officials attributed the increase in crimes in the provincial capital Karachi and other areas of the province to Afghan refugees. This resulted in a harsh police crackdown on undocumented Afghans, including women and children. Abbas points out that instead of implementing blanket actions, federal and provincial governments should utilise the criminal justice system to address rising crimes.
According to data compiled by the UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), more than half a million Afghans have left Pakistan since mid-September during the first phase of deportations. In various regions, including Karachi, announcements were made in local mosques urging illegal or undocumented migrants, including Afghans, to leave the country. Numerous reports surfaced on social media of police officers harassing Afghans and confiscating their documents.
In Karachi, midnight police raids were frequently conducted in localities with large populations of Afghans, further heightening their fear. “This is by no means voluntary repatriation, especially if people have been forced to flee to avoid violence and persecution,” Abbas notes.
Intimidation tactics and forced deportations
Wasim Sajjad, a journalist who extensively covered the initial phase of deportations in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) for Arab News Pakistan, reported that “many Afghans residing across Peshawar and KP were compelled to leave to avoid humiliation at the hands of the police forces.”
In Peshawar’s Board Bazaar, a popular marketplace, an anti-encroachment drive displaced hundreds of Afghan vendors and shopkeepers, stripping them of their livelihoods. This market, established in the 1980s after the arrival of Afghan refugees during the Soviet-Afghan war, was known as ‘Mini Kabul’ due to its predominantly Afghan populace. The operation, which occurred ahead of the 1st of November deadline for undocumented immigrants to leave Pakistan, involved the demolition of approximately 400 illegal structures. This move left many in a precarious situation without notice or alternative means of support. Authorities justified the action by citing public complaints about the encroachments, denying any direct link to the crackdown on undocumented Afghans. The sudden enforcement exacerbated the hardships already faced by Afghans in the area.
The widespread intimidation and harassment by locals and police left Afghans feeling unsafe. Many Afghans who are returning to Afghanistan were forced to sell their houses, livestock, and other possessions at much lower prices. Those who relied on livestock farming had to abandon their animals. Upon reaching the border, they were informed they could only carry a limited amount of belongings.
This situation is compounding their difficulties. They are returning to an unfamiliar land, with many only having heard the names of the cities their ancestors came from. Now, they are facing a country beset by poverty, socioeconomic challenges, and climate catastrophes. To make matters worse, they cannot take their hard-earned money with them.
The dangers for women and children
As of July 2024, over 600,000 undocumented Afghans have returned to Afghanistan, including thousands of girls and women. Female students and women in the workforce face particularly challenging situations due to the Taliban government’s restrictions on women’s mobility, access to education, and employment. The ban on women’s secondary education remains in place threatening their futures and livelihoods. Sajjad says that “many Afghan girls living in Peshawar were enrolled in schools, colleges, and universities. They have had to drop out to return to Afghanistan, where their educational future is rather bleak.”
Human rights lawyer Moniza Kakar, who has worked pro bono on the cases of thousands of Afghans, tells us that widows returning without male relatives will find it extremely difficult to survive and support their children, making them vulnerable to exploitation and risking their well-being.
In December 2022, as many as 1,200 Afghan nationals were arrested in Karachi for entering the country without valid documentation. Many of them sought critical medical treatments either for themselves or their family members. However, the uncertainty and inhumane conditions of the jails have forced many to request deportation.
For decades, Afghan nationals have travelled to Pakistan for critical healthcare support due to inadequate services in their home country, a situation exacerbated by the Taliban’s takeover. Increased restrictions, widespread poverty, and broken healthcare infrastructure have made accessing medical care even more challenging, particularly for girls and women. Pakistan’s deportations and restrictions on border movement further limit Afghan women’s access to necessary treatments, raising disease and mortality rates.
Recent flooding in Afghanistan’s provinces of Nangarhar, Laghman, and Kunhar, among others, has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis as infrastructure has been severely damaged and hundreds of citizens have been displaced. Women and children, in particular, face insurmountable challenges.
In July 2024, Pakistan suspended evictions on humanitarian grounds and extended PoR cards until June 2025. However this does not alleviate the perpetual threat of deportation looming over Afghans. Kakar highlights that, in the absence of definitive laws, refugees will continue to endure harassment and persecution. “If someone has come to Pakistan to seek refuge, we must support them instead of evicting them because we lack laws,” she added.
Both Abbas and Kakar urge that the country must adopt a coherent national policy for refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers. Pakistan must reconsider its stance and work towards a more humane approach by signing the 1951 Refugee Convention, to safeguard the rights and wellbeing of refugees.
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