Report in TOLOnews Online, Oct 13, 2023 at 4:03 PM
The Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, Zaman Mehdi, said that Islamabad is “concerned about the security threat emanating from Afghan territory.”
He made the remarks at a UN meeting, saying that over 600,000 Afghans have moved to Pakistan within the past two years due to dire economic conditions.
“Pakistan has had the consistent and the considered view that the international community must remain engaged with Afghanistan. We have welcomed our brothers and sisters with open arms for decades … we underline the need to upscale international efforts to create conditions conducive to the volunteer repatriation of Afghan refugees with honor and dignity,” he said.
The Islamic Emirate once again denied the use of Afghan soil against other countries, saying that the territory of Afghanistan is non-threatening to all countries. The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, stated that the mistreatment of Afghan refugees will harm the relations between Kabul and Islamabad.
“They [Pakistan] should be engaged with the refugees. We understand the problems of the countries, but they should still tolerate the refugees and not treat them with inhumane and non-Islamic behavior,” he said.
This comes as the Afghan refugees’ councils in Pakistan voiced their frustration over the harassment of Afghans by the host countries’ police.
“The [refugees] are being harassed and tortured, especially recently as the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan instructed the governmental institutions to expel 1.7 million refugees,” said Abdul Baseer Wisal, deputy head of Afghanistan’s refugees in Iran.
“Afghans are experiencing very difficult conditions nowadays in Iran. Iran has collected over 3,000 Afghan refugees with documents or without documents in Isfahan and detained them so far there,” said Abid Mahajar, an Afghan in Iran.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation said that over 12,000 families have returned via Torkham and Spin Boldak crossings, while 89,000 families have returned from Iran, through Islam Qala.
Pakistan’s decision to deport 1.73 million registered Afghan refugees to Afghanistan, faced strong reactions at national and international levels.
https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan-185516
