Sleepless Afghans Forced From Pakistan in Thousands

The Pakistani government has forced hundreds of thousands of undocumented foreigners, including Afghans, to leave their homes.

Following an order to go in September, the government pushed about 1.7 million Afghans into refugee status.

Later, the government promised to start ordering out those with papers from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR.

An Afghan refugee girl is working on school work outside her home in Lahore, Pakistan, on 07th October, 2023. (Source: Shutterstock)

12-year-old Fatima Khan has only known Pakistan as her home. Despite this, she traveled to the border in a lorry with her family. But, they missed the 1st November deadline, and the government is detaining them in a Landi Kotal holding center. She told The Sunday Times,

“We have not slept for the past three days, thinking about the fate of our lives,”

Since the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Afghans have fled to Pakistan. Pakistan has been accepting Afghans settling there for generations, as around 4 million Afghans are living there. However, with the deadline for undocumented Afghans leaving Pakistan passing on 1st November, many trying to flee Pakistan are trapped in holding centers.

With 73 holding places country-wide aiming to detain undocumented Afghans, human rights groups condemn the government’s deportation decisions. Human Rights Watch claimed the Pakistani government was relying on “threats, abuse, and detention to coerce” undocumented Afghans into reentering Afghanistan.

Fatima was fleeing while carrying her possessions in her old school bag. She said, “When I left, my friends hugged me and cried. I don’t know why they are expelling us from here. I consider Pakistan my country.”

600,000 Afghans moved into Pakistan following the Taliban retaking rule over Afghanistan in 2021. However, recently, Islamabad has blamed Afghan refugees for suicide bombing the army and governmental areas. Despite not providing any evidence to these claims, Islamabad started raiding migrant areas.

And because many Afghans have lived in Pakistan for decades, they have to decide whether to leave family members due to different documentation across generations. These paper differences mean many Afghans must choose to go with people without the required documents or risk deportation by staying.