Tens of thousands of Afghan refugees who have congregated in Pakistan’s capital region to seek resettlement in other countries are being ordered to move elsewhere in Pakistan by March 31.
The refugees have arrived in large numbers in the capital, Islamabad, and in neighboring Rawalpindi because of the embassies and refugee agencies based there. Forcing them to go elsewhere in the country is intended to put pressure on Western nations, including the United States, to accept them quickly.
The Pakistani government’s announcement, issued last week, said that Afghan refugees who could not find a country to take them would be deported to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, although it did not say how quickly that would happen after the March 31 deadline.
The order has added to the fear and uncertainty faced by the refugees, especially the 15,000 who had applied for resettlement in the United States. Days earlier, President Trump put those Afghans’ fate in doubt with an executive order suspending all refugee admissions to the United States.
Advertisement
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Many of those Afghans worked with the United States-led mission in their country, or with NGOs or other organizations funded by Western countries, before the Taliban took power in August 2021. Others are family members of Afghans who did so. Advocates for these refugees have accused the U.S. government of betraying wartime allies by blocking their paths to resettlement.
The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday that many of the refugees threatened with deportation — particularly members of ethnic and religious minority groups, women and girls, journalists, human rights activists and artists — could be subjected to persecution by the Taliban government. In a joint statement, they urged Pakistan to “implement any relocation measures with due consideration for human rights standards.”
Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.