UNHCR: Deportation Drive Sparks ‘Sense of Panic’ Among Afghan Refugees in Pakistan

Date: 22 November 2023 - 21:45

News ID: ۱۲۱۷۶۰

KARACHI (Reuters) – The UN refugee agency has expressed concern over widespread distress in large Afghan refugee communities across Pakistan where authorities are conducting searches to round up and expel undocumented foreigners.
Islamabad last month announced it would expel over a million undocumented refugees, mostly Afghans, amid a row with Kabul over charges it harbors anti-Pakistan militants. Over 370,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan since Oct. 1.
Pakistan says documented refugees are exempt, but the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said even those with the right documents were being targeted.
“The announcement and follow-up actions, including reports of intimidation by local authorities and evictions by landlords, have created a sense of panic,” UNHCR’s Pakistan representative, Philippa Candler, said at a briefing in Geneva, according to a statement from the agency.
She reiterated that the return of Afghans should be voluntary and that Pakistan should identify vulnerable individuals who need international protection.
Pakistan says harassment of documented refugees is rare and it is taking action against perpetrators. But it has continued a search operation in various cities to verify the status of refugees, many of whom have lived in the country for decades.
In the southern port city of Karachi, where hundreds of thousands of Afghans live, police carried out door-to-door searches in refugee settlements along with officials of the national database authority.
In one area on the outskirts of the city, a slum settlement of hundreds of small houses, officials knocked on the doors and asked residents to provide identification, which was cross checked by electronic tablets.
Reluctant and visibly distressed residents allowed a female police officer into their homes to verify the identification of women and children as well. None of the families wanted to speak to Reuters journalists present at the site.