ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan wants to remove all Afghan refugees from the country and they face expulsion in the near future, the Afghan embassy in Islamabad warned Wednesday.
The embassy issued a strongly worded statement about Pakistan’s plans, saying Afghan nationals in the capital, Islamabad, and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi have been subjected to arrests, searches, and orders from the police to leave the twin cities and relocate to other parts of Pakistan.
“This process of detaining Afghans, which began without any formal announcement, has not been officially communicated to the Embassy of Afghanistan in Islamabad through any formal correspondence,” it said.
“Ultimately, officials from Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that there is a definitive and final plan to deport all Afghan refugees not only from Islamabad and Rawalpindi but also from the entire country in the near future,” the embassy said.
There was no immediate comment from the Pakistani government on the embassy statement.
The latest development follows Pakistan’s threat to deport Afghans living in the country illegally. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved a deadline of March 31 to deport those awaiting relocation to third countries unless their cases are swiftly processed by the governments who have agreed to take them.
The Afghan embassy criticized "the short timeframe" given and "the unilateral nature of Pakistan’s decision”.
Besides the hundreds of thousands living illegally in Pakistan, some 1.45 million Afghans are registered with the UNHCR as refugees. Pakistan says those who were registered earlier had their stay extended until June 2025, and will not be arrested or deported at least until the extension expires.
Earlier this month, Shafqat Ali Khan, the spokesman at Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “This resettlement problem can’t be indefinite. So, for us, the Afghans who are here, awaiting resettlement, also has to be a transitory phase. This is not a permanent thing.”
He said Pakistan has been collaborating with Western countries to expedite the resettlement program and “will continue to do that.”
In the past three years, tens of thousands of Afghans have fled to Pakistan. Many of them were approved for resettlement in the U.S. through a program that helps people at risk because of their work during the war with the American government, media, aid agencies and rights groups. However, after U.S. President Donald Trump paused U.S. refugee programs last month, around 20,000 Afghans are now in limbo in Pakistan.
They have been facing harassment and arrest since October 2023, when Pakistan began cracking down on foreigners living in the country illegally.
Although the government said the campaign was not aimed at Afghans, they make up the majority of foreigners in Pakistan.
The International Organization for Migration reported an increase in deportation of Afghans in January.
The IOM this week said Afghans were being deported from Islamabad and Rawalpindi. It said there was a 13% increase in Afghans returning home from Jan. 16 to 31 compared to the first two weeks in January. It said 824,568 Afghans have returned home since 2023.
Ahmad Shah, a member of an Afghan advocacy group, urged Pakistan on Wednesday to allow Afghans waiting for relocation to continue living in Islamabad at least until the Trump administration makes a final decision about their fate.
He said it would be hard for them to visit Western embassies in the Pakistani capital if they were moved to other areas.
Munir Ahmed, The Associated Press
