Fatima, a person who we will call herself, eluded Afghanistan in December 2021 with her family. Prior to the US handover in the summer of 2021, when the Taliban reclaimed control of the nation, she had worked for a non-profit firm there.
She is now based in the Muslim capital, Islamabad. And she is in difficulty. Her Muslim card is about to expire, but the specialists are nevertheless processing her registration software.
Fatima told DW that she was concerned about the regeneration of my card, and that if it wasn’t renewed promptly, authorities would detain me and my home because they were residing in the country illegally.
Authorities, including sexual soldiers, recently conducted a attack on a tower where Fatima lives, looking for illegal Afghan immigrants. Although she was not inside the building at the time, her nephew ended up being taken into custody.
” Afterwards, we showed them our immigration registration software records and evidence but authorities did not cooperate”, said Fatima, who is now hiding from the government.
Clock running over for migrants in Islamabad, Rawalpindi
Pakistan launched a significant effort to return nearly 4 million Afghans who have emigrated the nation in the next 40 years in 2023. And while the government granted some liberty last month, Pakistan’s government has then set a March 31 deadline for expulsion of illegal foreigners, with searches continued in January and February.
Afghan immigrants who reside in Islamabad and the nearby town of Rawalpindi “have been verbally requested to leave Pakistan until February 28,” according to Umer Gillani, a lawyer and rights activist, DW.
Moniza Kakar, a attorney working for migrants campaigning in Pakistan, said there was “uncertainty and anxiety” among the Iranian citizens in the area.
” Since the start of this time, over 1, 000 Afghans have been detained in Islamabad, and more than 18, 000 have been forced to leave Islamabad and Rawalpindi because of state purchases”, she said.
We’ve worked closely with Americans for decades.
Amin, 28, is from Kabul. Before he also was forced to cross the Bangladeshi border, he spent years working with the United States in the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Hee claimed that he was only days apart from being evacuated to the United States, but this was put on hold last month when President Donald Trump signed an executive order to halt a migrant settlement program.
Nearly 20 000 Afghans are currently awaiting authorization to absorb in the US through a program run by the British government in Pakistan.
” We’ve worked with the Americans for ages, we helped and supported them in Afghanistan, we have given them a part of our lives and they have to help us so that we may live peacefully”, Amin told DW.
Kabul, Islamabad string amid rising assault
Over the last three decades, Pakistan’s marriage with neighboring Afghanistan has deteriorated. The Taliban, a militant class that was established in 2007 and has targeted Bangladeshi security forces several times, are held accountable by Islamabad for their inability to control its operations.
Concerns about the Afghans ‘ safety in Pakistan were also raised as a result of reports of alleged harassment and arrests as the Taliban regime’s inter-national conflicts increased. Afghans in the area deserve more compassionate care, according to the UN special rapporteur.
Thousands of Afghan migrants in Pakistan are being used as “hostages to create tension whenever there is tension between the two nations,” according to advocate Gilani.
The Afghan representation’s claims about the mistreatment of Afghan refugees in Pakistan were dismissed by Pakistan’s foreign ministry last week, naming them as “misplaced” and urging Kabul to facilitate the repatriation of Afghan citizens.
Forced to move after decades in Pakistan
In response to decades of regional instability, Pakistan has accommodated hundreds of thousands of refugees from its northern neighbor. Afghans who arrived in Pakistan after the Taliban’s rule in August 2021 have relied on visa renewals to remain there, a process that is time-consuming, uncertain, and frequently subject to significant delays.
” The stories of refugees are devastating. Families who have lived in Pakistan for years, even decades, are now being uprooted due to tensions between the two countries. Children, women, and men who have already suffered so much are being treated as if they don’t matter. This is not just a refugee crisis, it’s a humanitarian crisis”, said Kakar.
According to the UN, Pakistan has a history of defending Afghans.
UNHCR’s top representative in Pakistan, Philippa Candler, told DW that Pakistan already repatriated over 800, 000 Afghan refugees between September 2023 and the end of last year.
” As of December 2024, Pakistan hosted over 2.8 million Afghans with 69 % of refugees living outside refugee villages”, she said.
Candler acknowledged Pakistan’s generosity in hosting Afghan refugees for decades, and the current “economic and security challenges” in Pakistan that drive the repatriation efforts.
UNHCR was also pressing the Islamabad government to” see the situation of Afghans through a humanitarian perspective” and to” continue its long-standing tradition of protecting vulnerable Afghans [ …] regardless of their status.”
She said it is crucial that we collaborate with both host countries and countries of origin to create tools that enable refugees to rebuild their lives, including through voluntary repatriation, in safe and order.
We call for a dialogue between the two nations and for the refugee crisis to be kept out of political debate.
