(Photo by the United Nations via Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED)
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Pakistan’s government authorities ordered nearly 1.7 million Afghan refugees to leave the country by last November if they were not able to produce satisfactory residency documentation. Since then, there has been uproar from some sections of policy watchdogs and the public on how Pakistan is handling the issue of undocumented refugees. What is the impact of Pakistan’s decision to suddenly crack down on Afghan refugees who have made a home in the country for decades now?
Afghan refugees have arrived in Pakistan during waves of turmoil in Afghanistan, beginning with the Soviet invasion in the 1970s. According to UNHCR, about 1.5 million Afghans are living in Pakistan without any documentation, including some 600,000 people who arrived in the country following Afghanistan’s takeover by the de facto authorities in August 2021. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said to Voice of America that the crackdown did not aim at Afghans but at illegal residents in Pakistan, of which a disproportionate amount are Afghan refugees. Therefore, they are at the most risk of forcible return.
While the decision to detain and deport undocumented residents is in the purview of Pakistan under domestic sovereignty laws, the chaotic unfolding of this process has left millions exposed to abuse, torture and trauma at the hands of authorities and the public. As a result, stories of Afghan families being detained unlawfully and treated inhumanely have flooded the media since October 2023, when repatriation intensified.
No Place To Call Home
The long period of settlement in Pakistan means many Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers continued with life. School, jobs, marriage and families — their life trajectory in the past few decades has been no different than their Pakistani counterparts. Yet, a deadline to return to Afghanistan within a few months was sprung upon them, leaving many stranded.
For example, Syed Omer reported that he had to leave ongoing schooling in Peshawar to return to Afghanistan abruptly for fear of deportation. Similarly, a 15-year-old Asadullah said he was getting an education in English and Urdu in Pakistan, so he would be out of place upon returning to Afghanistan as he is not fluent in Pashto or Dari used there. These stories are only a few from those of second-generation Afghans in Pakistan. As their parents grappled to settle in Pakistan, their inability to organize their paperwork and status is now putting their children in harm’s way.
Another family narrated that the police and some plain-clothed men barged into their home, and refusing the paperwork they presented, they threatened deportation to the border unless the family paid something extra. Afghan families have become more hesitant in returning to their home country since the takeover of the Taliban in August 2021, as a result of which opportunities for women and children to get an education, healthcare and other services have suffered.
Sudden orders to leave Pakistan creates a dangerous position for Afghan families. Their country of residence, Pakistan, is a prison in fear of being reported and deported, while their home country is a place of multiple threats where many have not lived for decades.
Pragmatism Steeped in Racism
Asadullah lived for 44 years in Quetta, Pakistan, after arriving as an 8-year-old from Afghanistan. However, he felt like he had no choice but to return because of the harassment he began facing in Pakistan. “They were searching our homes, arresting us on the streets, taking our money and not accepting our refugee cards. We thought things would improve, but they got worse day by day.”
While the government’s steps to send refugees to their home countries may have arisen from concern for population census and inflation in Pakistan, the execution of the orders fueled discriminatory attitudes that have worsened a hostile environment for Afghans.
Stories of police raids in the homes of Afghans, even if they are nationals of Pakistan, have emerged and flooded the Internet. Although directives to return to Afghanistan are for those who do not provide paperwork for residence, police have abused their power to force Afghans out of Pakistan. To make matters worse, discriminatory attitudes of native Pakistanis have manifested in reporting neighbours, classmates and nearby Afghans to the police. The fear of being deported, even with the right documents, has forced families to remain in hiding, impacting their work, school and social life. What question arises from implementing the new state policy is why Pakistan cannot roll out repatriation peacefully.
One reason could be the harmful misconceptions and hatred brewing in many Pakistanis over the past few decades against Afghan refugees. The early 2000s, when the US war in Afghanistan initiated a backlash against Pakistan in the form of terrorist attacks augmented these feelings. As a result, Pakistanis began painting all in the same colour, identifying all Afghans as a cause of the rising insurgency in their country. Pakistan’s leading daily news source, Dawn, reported the story of Kazim, a documented Afghan settled with his parents in Pakistan, who recalled being bullied for belonging to Afghanistan since he was eight years old. Kazim explained that the recent announcement of sending back Afghan refugees has exacerbated long-standing attitudes towards Afghan people. The recent orders have given an avenue to people with racist ideas to action them.
These incidents paint a bleak picture of the state of refugees in Pakistan. The irony is that families who have grown up in Pakistan as refugees instill in their children to remain loyal to their adopted country that rose to shelter them. Yet, the lack of awareness and misconceptions among Pakistanis have created a hostile environment for them.
A Way Forward
Given that Pakistan does not have a national legal framework for refugees and asylum-seekers, it is difficult to regulate the systems that serve Afghan refugees in Pakistan. In this case, the way forward must stem from significant public pressure and the government’s commitment to prioritize and ensure the safety of vulnerable individuals, even when implementing policies with good intentions.
In the past, there have been registration drives for Afghans in 2007, 2017 and 2021. As a result, thousands of Afghans living in Pakistan became its residents and were afforded the same rights and protections as other citizens in Pakistan. Afghans make up the second-largest ethnic group in Pakistan. Yet, there is minimal effort in schools and on public forums to raise awareness about their arrival, integration and contributions to society.
Recognizing the lengthy process required to repair a fractured refugee rights system in a nation already grappling with political and economic challenges, Pakistan should strive to ensure that the treatment of Afghans by authorities does not amount to police brutality and abuse of state power. Similar to the situations observed in other countries and extensively discussed in the media, Pakistani authorities should hold the actions of its law enforcement agencies accountable, ensuring that individuals with legal protections are not subjected to mistreatment by the police.
A comprehensive policy on how to treat refugees without documentation, while maintaining their rights and dignity is the need of the hour for Pakistan. Sharing borders with a country that has its unrest means Pakistan will always be a destination of refuge for many. The enforcement of laws and protection of those who end up in Pakistan without residence registration are separate processes that should co-exist.
Edited by Gabrielle Andrychuk
