Pakistani security forces kill six militants in northwest

ISLAMABAD: The Afghan embassy in Pakistan announced on Friday the envoy met with the top official of the United Nations refugee agency in the country to deliberate on the required mechanism for refugee deportation, including their tripartite meeting with Pakistani authorities.
The development comes as Pakistan has expelled over 800,000 Afghan nationals since 2023. The government launched a deportation drive against “illegal immigrants,” primarily targeting Afghans, amid a spike in suicide bombings, most of which it attributed to Afghan nationals without providing evidence.
Earlier this week, the embassy issued a strongly worded statement, saying Afghan citizens in Islamabad and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi had been subjected to arrests, searches and orders from the police to leave the twin cities and relocate to other parts of Pakistan.
However, the foreign office in Islamabad swiftly responded, saying any allegations related to the mistreatment of Afghan refugees in the country were “misplaced” while calling on Kabul to ensure its nationals’ smooth repatriation.
“H.E. Sardar Ahmad Shakeeb, the Acting Ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan, met with Ms. Philippa Candler, the Head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pakistan,” the Afghan embassy said in a social media post on X.
“Their discussions focused on Pakistan’s recent decision to expel Afghan refugees from Islamabad and Rawalpindi, along with their broader deportation across the country after June this year,” it continued. “They also deliberated on the necessary mechanisms and facilities required for this process, the importance of a tripartite meeting involving Afghanistan, Pakistan and UNHCR, and other relevant matters.”
Until the government initiated the expulsion drive in 2023, Pakistan was home to over four million Afghan migrants and refugees, of which around 1.7 million were undocumented, according to government figures.
Afghans constitute the largest portion of migrants in the country, many of whom arrived after the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, but a significant 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.
Last year, however, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced that Afghans would need permission to stay in the federal capital, Islamabad, after December, alleging their involvement in an opposition protest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party that led to clashes with police.
UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also voiced concern over the situation of Afghan nationals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi in a joint statement earlier this month, informing Pakistan had arrested over 800 Afghan nationals from Islamabad and Rawalpindi since the beginning of the year.
Last month, Amnesty International expressed concern over reports of arbitrary detention and harassment of Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers by law enforcement agencies in Islamabad.
However, the foreign office maintained this week that Pakistan had done what it could for these refugees.
“We expect interim Afghan authorities to create conducive conditions in Afghanistan so that these returnees are fully integrated into Afghan society,” the foreign office said.

ISLAMABAD: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s top aides said on Friday they had held a meeting with Pakistan Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, in a rare development to discuss drafting a National Judicial Policy.
The move comes days after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Afridi at his residence, with the top judge sharing the agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Judicial Policy Making Committee and seeking the input of the government on the draft, according to the Supreme Court. The chief justice’s reforms agenda aims to reduce the pendency of cases and provide speedy justice to litigants. 
Afridi had informed PM Sharif during their meeting that he would also be taking the opposition’s input and wanted bi-partisan support for his reforms. 
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, Gohar Khan, the chairman of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, said the party had met the chief justice on his request to discuss the new National Judicial Policy.
“The chief justice of Pakistan had shared an agenda with us regarding National Judicial Policy and asked for our inputs on ten points,” Gohar said.
Last year, ex-PM Khan had written a letter to then Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who retired in October, seeking judicial intervention into alleged rigging in the Feb. 8, 2024 national election and the subsequent allocation of reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies, which the PTI says were unfairly allocated to their opponents. 
After the election, the Election Commission of Pakistan had denied the PTI its share of 70 reserved seats in parliament, contending that Khan-backed independent candidates could not claim them. PTI candidates contested the polls independently after the party lost its election symbol in the run-up to election for not holding intra-party elections.
The Supreme Court later struck down the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision on the reserved seats, calling it “unconstitutional” and ordering that reserved seats be allocated to the PTI.
“We also told him [Chief Justice Afridi] that no one regards SC order as a court order these days. SC orders are not being implemented be it senate elections or reserved seats,” Gohar said.
The PTI chairman added that the chief justice had assured the party of taking “certain measures” to address its issues.
Pakistan, currently bolstered by a $7 billion IMF facility granted in September, is navigating an economic recovery path even as it faces prolonged political crisis. Imran Khan, arguably the country’s most popular politician, has been behind bars since August 2023 in a slew of cases he says are politically motivated. His party has been leading a movement, including through street protests and sit-ins, to demand his release.