Thursday, January 2, 2025
Islamabad (UrduPoint News International/ Pakistan Point News - 11th Jan, 2025 ) Afghan refugee Shahrzad's life is confined to a small room in a guesthouse in Islamabad. The woman, who came to Pakistan in search of a peaceful life, fears that anti-Afghan sentiments in Pakistan could make life even more difficult for her.
Reports of harassment, extortion and arrests of Afghan refugees by Pakistani authorities have kept her awake at night.
It should be noted that the Islamabad government has launched a crackdown on illegal Afghan families living in Pakistan.
Shahrzad feels that she could be deported to Pakistan along with her children. "The situation here for Afghans is terrible and the attitude of the Pakistani police is like that of the Taliban," she told AFP.
Shehrzad said police recently detained her son while he was walking in a park near his home.
He added that the police asked him for money instead of documents.
Crackdown on Afghan refugees
The Islamabad government launched a crackdown on Afghan refugees living illegally in Pakistan last summer, citing militant attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
The crackdown has resulted in the expulsion of nearly 750,000 Afghans, most of whom were seeking refuge in Pakistan without legal documents.
However, in recent months, the Islamabad government and police have also begun to accuse Afghans of fomenting unrest sparked by the opposition over the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Afghans living in Pakistan, waiting to move to Western countries, say they are caught up in political tensions.
Visas for Western countries will be processed from Pakistan itself
“We feel like we have stepped out of a frying pan and into the fire after coming here,” says Mustafa, an Afghan who came to Islamabad to obtain a US visa.
Mustafa, 31, lives in Pakistan with his family. He said the fear of arrest is such that any member of his family is reluctant to go out freely to buy food and medicine.
“If they know you are Afghan, whether you have a visa or not, they will arrest you or extort money from you,” he added.
Three years after the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul, the US and European countries have still not opened their embassies there, forcing Afghans to travel to Pakistan to obtain visas.
According to Shahrazad, a European country told her that her visa would be processed in Pakistan, so she was forced to come to Islamabad.
Pakistan’s government urges Western countries
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry in July urged Western countries to expedite the visa applications of more than 44,000 Afghans living in Pakistan awaiting transfer to the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Over the past four decades, millions of Afghans have fled to Pakistan, fleeing a series of conflicts, including the Soviet invasion, civil war and the US-led military intervention after 9/11.
Nearly 600,000 Afghans have fled to Pakistan since the Taliban government returned to power in August 2021 and imposed Islamic law.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Pakistan is currently hosting about 1.5 million Afghan refugees and asylum seekers, while there are also more than 1.5 million Afghans residing in Pakistan under various legal statuses.
Concerns from human rights groups and activists
Iman Mazari, a human rights lawyer who defends Afghans in Islamabad courts, says that the protests in favor of Imran Khan have led to an increase in racial profiling in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
She added that the police have been given free rein to pick up, bribe and exploit anyone they want.
Ali Amin Gandapur, a leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who led the recent protests in favor of Imran Khan, said that hostility towards Afghans is spreading among Pakistani Pashtuns.
In a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Gandapur alleged that the police were cracking down on “Pashtun laborers in Islamabad.”
“Such actions will foster a sense of isolation and alienation among (Pashtun) communities,” she warned.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has also expressed deep concern over the alleged ethnic profiling of ordinary Pashtun citizens and has called on the Islamabad police to refrain from such actions that create divisions between different communities living in the country.
The Afghan embassy in Islamabad has denied the involvement of Afghans in political activities in Pakistan.
The statement said that this policy of blaming Afghans will not benefit Pakistan and will further increase mistrust between the two neighboring countries.
These issues have their place, but the ground realities are that the lives of Afghans living in Pakistan waiting to go to Western countries have become the same as they were living in Afghanistan.
According to Afghan Mustafa, “We have become prisoners, we go out very rarely and only when we really need to.”
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