by Naeem Asghar in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2023ISLAMABAD: Authorities claim to have released all Baloch protesters who arrived in Islamabad last week to highlight the issue of missing persons but were rounded up in a crackdown. However, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC)—the protest organizers—disputes this, asserting that Islamabad Police have failed to release all detained protesters despite the three-day deadline’s expiration. The BYC announced that people in Balochistan will stage demonstrations and strikes…
Posts tagged as “crackdown”
by Zoya Anwer in Dawn, December 24th, 2023ISLAMABAD: Durnaz Bibi* arrived in Islamabad alongside hundreds of Baloch protesters on Wednesday night, for the recovery of their loved ones who had been forcibly disappeared, but instead of justice, she along with others, faced the wrath of the state. When Dawn approached her outside the press club, she was trying to balance a toddler in her arms. The child tightly held onto the picture of a loved…
by Saleem Shahid | Ibrahim Shinwari | Umer Farooq in Dawn, Nov 5th, 2023PESHAWAR: The caretaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has exempted the illegal immigrants scheduled to resettle in Western countries from the ongoing crackdown on undocumented migrants. The KP home department said in a letter that a list of illegal foreigners destined for third countries was received from the federal Ministry of Interior and individuals destined for third countries would not be subject to arrest.…
by Saleem Shahid | Ibrahim Shinwari | Umer Farooq in Dawn, Nov 5th, 2023PESHAWAR: The caretaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has exempted the illegal immigrants scheduled to resettle in Western countries from the ongoing crackdown on undocumented migrants. The KP home department said in a letter that a list of illegal foreigners destined for third countries was received from the federal Ministry of Interior and individuals destined for third countries would not be subject to arrest.…
report in The Express Tribune, Nov 2, 2023The government on Wednesday began rounding up undocumented foreigners, most of them illegal Afghans refugees, in all parts of the country after a midnight deadline for them to leave the country expired. The removal of the people to temporary holding centres began a day earlier than previously announced. Moreover, the interior ministry said 140,322 people had already left voluntarily. Afghans made up the bulk of those to have…
By Imtiaz Ali in Dawn, October 10th, 2023KARACHI: While a crackdown on illegal immigrants across the country is underway, police and allied agencies have so far picked up over 1,700 Afghan nationals for living in Karachi without any valid documents, it emerged on Monday. The information about the number of held persons was shared by caretaker Home Minister retired Brigadier Haris Nawaz, who also declared that all illegal immigrants living in Sindh would soon be…
by Kamran Yousaf in The Express Tribune, Oct 6, 2023ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan foreign ministers met in Tibet on Thursday amid tensions as the Foreign Office clarified that the crackdown against illegal immigrants was not against a particular nationality. As tensions deepened between the two neighbours, caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani met his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi in China’s Tibet Autonomous region. Both were there to attend an international conference. A brief statement…
AFP report in Dawn, Sept 29, 2023KARACHI: The cow had been slaughtered and bags of rice purchased, but young bride Wahida’s nuptials were cut short when her groom was arrested on their wedding day, one of hundreds caught in a recent crackdown on Afghans living in Pakistan. The 20-year-old now lives with her in-laws at the Afghan Muhajir aid camp in Karachi, but without her husband-to-be, a registered refugee. “We are without hope,” the groom’s…
Reuters report, Sept 26, 2023• Consult with Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei on potential cooperation• Rights groups fear resources will be used to crackdown on protesters KABUL: The Taliban are creating a large-scale camera surveillance network for Afghan cities that could involve repurposing a plan crafted by the Americans before their 2021 pullout, an interior ministry spokesman said, as authorities seek to supplement thousands of cameras already across the capital, Kabul. The Taliban administration, which…
AFP report, September 15, 2023DHAKA: A Bangladesh court on Thursday sentenced two leading human rights activists to two years each in jail, after a trial critics say is part of a government crackdown ahead of elections. Adilur Rahman Khan, 63, and Nasiruddin Elan, 57, have led the Odhikar organisation for decades, working to document thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances of opposition activists, and police brutalities. They “were sentenced to two years in prison”,…
report in Khaama Press online, Sept 12, 2023In Karachi, Pakistan, hundreds of Afghan nationals have recently been arrested by the police on charges of residing illegally in the country. However, Afghan diplomats and human rights activists argue that many detained people hold valid documents to prove their legal status. The Pakistani authorities launched the crackdown on Saturday, which some believe is a response to reported militant infiltration from Afghanistan into Pakistan’s Chitral district. This infiltration…