Report in TOLOnews Online, Nov 06, 2023 at 8:34 PM
Thousands of Afghans are returning to Afghanistan as Pakistan escalates crackdowns on undocumented refugees to leave, brushing off calls by the UN, rights groups and Western embassies to reconsider expelling over 1.73 million Afghans.
The refugees meanwhile complained about mistreatment by Pakistan’s police, saying that their properties have been seized and destroyed. The refugees said that they are hiding from the police to protect themselves from being harassed.
“They don’t have the fare to travel to Afghanistan. They don’t know how to live in Afghanistan as the season is getting cold,” said Ayoub Laalporwal, an Afghan refugee.
“Everyone is at home. Even the [refugees] cannot go out to purchase their basic needs including food because if they are detained and deported, it will cause them problems,” said Sial Mohammad Wisal, a member of the Afghan refugees council.
This comes as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on X that the “large numbers of Afghans forced to leave Pakistan are facing grave hardship and risks.”
“Afghanistan is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis, compounded by the approaching winter,” he said. “I call on Pakistan to continue its long … tradition of providing safety to vulnerable Afghans.”
The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said that the embassies and consulates of Afghanistan are in contact with Pakistani officials to prevent the harassment of the Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
The Pakistani media reported on Monday that over 6,000 Afghan refugees have left Pakistan within the past 24 hours.
The Islamic Emirate’s consulate in Karachi, Abdul Jabar Takhari, said that the Pakistani military detained 400 Afghan refugees within the past 5 days.
“The consulates in Karachi and Peshawar have been instructed to share the complaints with the government of the country, so the police do not harass the people,” he said.
Former President Hamid Karzai, in his meeting with the UN deputy special representative for Afghanistan Markus Potzel, requested the continuation of the United Nations assistance for the people of Afghanistan, especially the victims of the Herat earthquakes and the refugees returning to the country from Pakistan.
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-185916
