About 250,000 Afghan asylum seekers have arrived in Pakistan since August 2021, but a migrant crackdown has left many of them in fear of being jailed or deported
Last summer, authorities began deporting Afghans for illegally entering the country, but arrests and detentions have increased since October. Nearly 1,400 Afghans, including 129 women and 178 children, have been detained in Karachi and Hyderabad alone, the largest number of arrests made to date in Pakistan, say lawyers., which confers a legal duty on countries to protect people fleeing serious harm.
Umer Ijaz Gilani, an Islamabad-based lawyer, said deporting Afghan asylum seekers was a “clear violation of the non-refoulement principle” . He urged the Pakistan government’s National Commission for Human Rights to direct state authorities to stop the deportations. Farah Zia, the director of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, condemned the treatment of Afghans, particularly the arrests of women and children “because their vulnerability is compounded by their gender and age and lack of connections with local networks”.Last year, the commission wrote to the government, urging it to develop a more humane policy towards Afghan refugees.
Her 14-year-old sister and nine-year-old brother are no longer allowed to go to school, she said, because their mother is so worried they’ll be detained. “She has told us to always carry the Sharp card and to avoid leaving the home unless absolutely necessary,” said Noor. “We tell people we are from Chitral [a region in northern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan].”
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