Erdogan arrives in Islamabad to co-chair Pakistan-Turkiye cooperation council

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson on Wednesday rejected allegations by the Afghan chargé d’affaires that Islamabad was mistreating Afghan refugees in the country, describing them as “misplaced” and calling on Kabul to ensure its nationals’ smooth repatriation.
Pakistan’s response comes a few hours after the Afghan embassy in Islamabad issued a strongly worded statement on Wednesday, saying Afghan nationals in 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.
Islamabad launched a deportation drive in 2023 mainly targeting Afghan nationals after a spike in suicide bombings which the Pakistan government, without providing evidence, says were carried out by Afghan nationals. Islamabad has also blamed them for smuggling, militant violence and other crimes.
The Afghan embassy said Pakistan’s foreign ministry has confirmed that there is a “definitive and final plan” to deport all Afghan refugees from the entire country in the near future. Pakistan has so far deported over 800,000 Afghan nationals since it launched the deportation drive in 2023.
“We have noted the remarks made by the Afghan Charge d’ Affaires in Islamabad, about Pakistan’s Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan,” the foreign office said.
“His assertions regarding mistreatment of Afghan nationals are misplaced,” the ministry added.
It said that Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghans for decades “with respect and dignity” with little support from the international community. 
The foreign office said Islamabad began its deportation drive against illegal immigrants in 2023 and put in place appropriate mechanisms to ensure that no one is mistreated or harassed during the repatriation process.
It said Pakistani authorities extensively engaged Afghanistan to ensure a smooth repatriation of Afghan nationals. 
“While Pakistan has done what it could, we expect interim Afghan authorities to create conducive conditions in Afghanistan so that these returnees are fully integrated in the Afghan society,” the foreign office said.
“The real test of Afghan authorities would be to ensure that the rights of these people about whom the Afghan Cd’A talked are protected in Afghanistan.”
Other than Afghan officials, international rights agencies have also expressed concerns over the alleged harassment of Afghan nationals by Pakistani law enforcement agencies. 
In January, Amnesty International expressed its concern over reports of arbitrary detention and harassment of Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers by law enforcement agencies in Islamabad.
Until the government initiated the expulsion drive in 2023, Pakistan was home to over four million Afghan migrants and refugees out of which around 1.7 million were undocumented, as per government figures.
Afghans make up the largest portion of migrants, many of whom came after the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, but a large number have been present since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Islamabad insists the deportation drive is not aimed specifically at Afghans but at all those living illegally in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: 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 Afghan statement.
The latest development comes more than two weeks after Pakistan’s government threatened to deport Afghan nationals living in the country illegally.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had 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 after the Afghan Taliban seized power in 2021.
The Afghan embassy criticized “the short timeframe” given and “the unilateral nature of Pakistan’s decision.”
Besides hundreds of thousands of those living illegally in Pakistan, there are around 1.45 million Afghan nationals registered with UNHCR as refugees. Pakistani authorities say 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, had 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 US through a program that helps people at risk because of their work with the American government, media, aid agencies and rights groups. However, after US President Donald Trump paused US refugee programs last month, around 20,000 Afghans are now in limbo in Pakistan.
These Afghans have been facing harassment and even 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. Since then, more than 800,000 Afghan nationals have been deported or forced to leave the country under a so-called voluntary repatriation plan.
The International Organization for Migration has also reported an increase in deportation of Afghans in January.
IOM this week in a report said, “Afghan nationals are being deported to Afghanistan from Islamabad and Rawalpindi.” It said there is an increase of 13 percent in those 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 are moved to other areas.