The Pakistan government has not set any guidelines as the deadline for the mass repatriation of Afghan refugees from the country is just ten days away, leaving relevant departments clueless.

The Afghan Commissionerate in Pakistan which is responsible for Afghan refugees under the federal administration has reportedly not received any official instructions from the government, according to media reports. Pakistan’s government has not issued any directives to the concerned authorities regarding the repatriation of refugees, causing confusion among them, the country’s leading daily, The Express Tribune, reported on Friday.

Pakistan has set a March 31 deadline for the deportation of all Afghan refugees. However, some Afghans are hoping for an extension of the deadline. As relations with Afghanistan reached an all-time low, Pakistan’s Foreign Office confirmed the deadline is still in place. Meanwhile earlier this week Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi called for the gradual repatriation of Afghan refugees.

Addressing an iftar gathering for diplomats in Kabul at which Pakistani Charge d’Affaires Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani was present, he stated that over the past four decades, millions of Afghans have migrated to different countries, including Pakistan and Iran. “Refugees should be respected and their return should be gradual and dignified, and there are some problems that make it difficult to prepare for the arrival of refugees all at once. Pakistan’s leading newspaper Dawn reported quoting Muttaqi. Recently, the US-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch slammed Pakistan for the forced deportation of Afghan refugees.

“Pakistani officials should immediately stop coercing Afghans to return home and allow those facing expulsion to seek protection,” said Elaine Pearson Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. According to the rights watchdog, Pakistani police have raided houses, beaten and arbitrarily detained people, and confiscated their refugee documents, including residence permits. They have also demanded bribes to allow Afghans to remain in Pakistan.

The United Nations has reported that most Afghans who have returned to Afghanistan have cited fear of detention by Pakistani authorities as the reason they left. Masood Rahmati, an Afghan journalist, said that even Afghans who are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or who had valid residence cards were not safe in Pakistan. Several reports revealed that Afghan refugees are facing massive harassment and abuse in Pakistan.

Asking various human rights organisations to take action on their behalf, the Afghan refugees stated that despite holding valid legal documents, they are facing the threat of illegal detention, deportation, and discrimination.

–IANS

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23 women and children from Syria who had been captured and kept hostage in the ISIS camps have been repatriated to Germany and Finland. Notably, some of them had had a criminal record to their name, and had allegedly had ties with the Islamic State.

According to German media reports, the three repatriated German women are aged between 21 and 38 and the children are aged between 2 and 12. The group resided in a refugee camp under Kurdish control.

“I am very relieved that we were able to repatriate another 12 children and three mothers from camps in northeastern Syria yesterday,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement. Maas added that the return was organised in cooperation with Finland, which repatriated six children and two women. He did not further identify the women or children. However, the German weekly Bild am Sonntag reported that all three women had left Germany in recent years to join the so-called Islamic State group Syria. The paper identified the women as Merve A., Yasmin A. and Leonora M.

Finland’s foreign ministry said it had brought home six children and two adult mothers because it was the only way to protect the children held at the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria, where Kurdish-led forces have detained suspected former IS members. “Under the constitution, Finnish public authorities are obligated to safeguard the basic rights of the Finnish children interned in the camps insofar as this is possible,” it said.

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