ISLAMABAD — A leading rights group said on Wednesday that Pakistan’s authorities have intensified pressure on Afghan refugees to go back to neighboring Afghanistan, where they risk persecution by the Taliban and face dire economic conditions.
“Pakistani officials should immediately stop coercing Afghans to return home and give those facing expulsion the opportunity to seek protection,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at New York-based Human Rights Watch.
“The Taliban authorities in Afghanistan should prevent any reprisals against returning Afghans and reverse their abusive policies against women and girls,” she said.
Pakistan set a March 31 deadline for the deportation of all foreigners living illegally in the country. Most of them are Afghans.
The HRW appeal came a month after the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad said that Pakistan has stepped up arrests of Afghan citizens in Islamabad and nearby Rawalpindi for forced expulsion.
However, Pakistan has dismissed the allegation by Kabul, saying that the authorities were only trying to facilitate conditions for the swift return of Afghans to their home country.
More than 500,000 Afghans who fled the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 have been living without papers in Pakistan, thousands of them waiting for resettlement in the United States and elsewhere.
There are also around 1.45 million Afghan refugees, registered with the U.N. refugee agency, most of whom fled during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation of their country. Last July, Pakistan extended the stay of refugees registered with UNHCR until June, saying they won’t be arrested or deported at least until the extension expires.
In January, U.S. President Donald Trump paused American refugee programs for at least three months and since then