'Historic Dilemma': Pakistan's Decision to Deport Two Million Afghan Refugees Sparks National Debate
Pakistan's Interior Ministry said that almost two million Afghans living in the country illegally must leave Pakistan by the end of this month, prompting a strong reaction on social media.
SputnikMillions of Afghans have entered Pakistan over the years, following wars and Taliban* regimes. Some 600,000 arrived in August 2021 when the Taliban returned to power after the US forces fled Afghanistan.
Following the devastation of Afghanistan by US forces in the war after 9/11, some two million Afghans sought shelter in Pakistan. Now, the government wants the illegal migrants to leave the country before 1 November or face deportation.
Sputnik India reached out to several Pakistanis to see what ordinary people have to say about the matter.
Why Does Pakistan Wants Afghans Gone?
The Pakistani government recently said that Afghan nationals have been responsible for the majority of terrorist attacks in the country this year - 14 out of 24, according to caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti.
Some called his statements nothing short of ethnic profiling. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)** is a group with links to Taliban Sunni militants who retook power in Afghanistan two years ago. Since the Taliban chiefs returned to power in Afghanistan, the TTP has resumed violence in Pakistan, with many of the militants having Afghan roots.
Sputnik India spoke to Lahore-based businessman Sajid, who asked to be mentioned by his first name only, about the unfolding situation.
"Many illegal Afghans residing in Pakistan are involved in smuggling, drug trafficking, and whatnot. Also some of them who escaped to Pakistan post-9/11 are hardline Taliban supporters, so now that the Taliban is back in power in Afghanistan, these extremists living in Pakistan have activated their sleeper cells", Sajid said.
Recently, the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad said that more than 1,000 Afghans have been detained in the past two weeks by Pakistan's authorities, half of them despite having a legal right to be in the country.
Limited Humanitarian Assistance
Pakistan is home to one of the world’s largest refugee populations, with the majority of them from Afghanistan. Given the two countries’ shared border and deep cultural ties, their connection has always been strong. Many years of conflict and humanitarian crises in Afghanistan have inevitably spilled into Pakistan.
“I think this is just another front for the government to delay elections, or some other hidden agenda. What do poor Afghans have to do with the state the country is in today? It is not their fault. Blaming it on the people who already have so little and asking them to go back to a wartorn country is just wrong”, a Lahore based medical student, Naheed, told Sputnik India.
Over the years, Pakistan has been criticized by top human rights organizations for not providing Afghans with proper legal documentation, healthcare facilities, job opportunities, and education for their children.
"Just allowing people to come into a country is not enough. Pakistan has a historic dilemma with Afghanistan, but it has not taken care of Afghans properly, many of them had no option but to resort to illegal means of surviving. If you allow the refugees to come, then you need to take care of them too. Look at how Russia is dealing with some 1.3 million Ukrainian refugees who have sought shelter in Russia since the war broke out last year. The Russian government has given them Russian passports, provided them with free healthcare facilities, put their children into free schools and even helped them in getting jobs. That is a proper way to assimilate refugees and let them stay for as long as they need to", said a political analyst, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.
Between 2006 and 2007, together with the UNHCR, the Pakistani Ministry of States and Frontier Regions registered Afghans in Pakistan and issued them Proof of Registration (PoR) cards. These are the only Afghans the Pakistani government recognizes as refugees, comprising about 1.32 million people.
In 2017, the Pakistani government created the Comprehensive Policy on Voluntary Repatriation and Management of Afghan Nationals, in which they issued Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) to about 840,000 undocumented Afghans in Pakistan. This card confirmed the Afghan citizenship of its bearer. Moreover, these cards provided the government of Pakistan with Afghans’ basic information and allowed them to stay in Pakistan, but fell short of declaring them “refugees”.
All other Afghans without PoR cards or an ACC have no status and, therefore, no legal protection from deportation.
This uncertainty and lack of formal status causes mental distress for an already traumatized population. Although a few international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) have been able to provide mental health services to some refugees, without registration data from the Pakistani government these NGOs are unable to create programs for the Afghan refugees.
In conversation with Sputnik India, a resident of Lahore, Saleem Asif, said that Pakistan can barely take care of its own people, so how can it create proper systems for foreign refugees?
"Pakistan is not a welfare state, unfortunately. There are so many economic and social issues here. Inflation is through the roof this year, and millions of Pakistanis are on the brink of extreme poverty. Hence, in my opinion, Afghan nationals might be better off in Afghanistan rather than staying here as unwanted civilians", Asif shared.
Lack of International Funding
Another reason why Pakistan is unable to provide a dignified living for Afghans is a lack of international monetary support.
In 2023, the UN requested about $384 million for Pakistan through the Afghanistan Situation Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP). So far, 95.4 percent of the funding for the entire RRP has not been met.
Moreover, in 2022, the RRP was funded at only 22.5 percent, which is far below the UNHCR’s global funding level of 52 percent. These numbers have raised alarm, as many fear that the funding for the 2023 RRP will again fall far short of the required amount.
Karachi-based philanthropist Maleeha Agha told Sputnik India that she had recently heard that dozens of women's shelters and orphanages in the city are shutting down due to a lack of funding. She added that she finds the situation very sad and distressing, because many of the Afghans living in Karachi have been there for decades and consider it their home.
When Sputnik India reminded Agha that only illegal Afghans have been asked to leave the country, she said that there have been many reports of “legal Afghan residents also getting harassed by some corrupt police officers and many had to bribe their way out of prisons, despite having all the required documents”.
It should be noted that the severe monsoon flooding in 2022 added to the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan, as nearly 10 million people still don't have access to clean water. Tens of thousands of Afghan refugees were also hit by the flooding catastrophe, especially those residing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Sindh provinces.
As a consequence, although Afghans and Pakistanis have lived in peaceful coexistence for decades, now more Pakistanis are tired of having so many Afghans in the country when there are already so many problems in Pakistan. Many find the government’s recent decision sad and unfair, while others think that parting ways with illegal Afghans might be for the best.