At a refugee settlement in the outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, Afghanistan, we gathered on Sunday to observe the festival of Eid al-Fitr in quiet unrest, not in a joyous celebration. On Monday, thousands of people who have called Pakistan home for generations are facing a period of deportation and an uncertain, perhaps dangerous future.
Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, millions of Afghans have sought evacuation in neighbouring Pakistan, fleeing a wave of violence and instability. Over the decades, many have returned home, but conflicts and political upheavals have sent hundreds of thousands.
This was followed by the Taliban’s acquisition of Afghanistan in August 2021 after Ashraf Ghani’s US-backed government collapsed. They included refugees who had been promised to resettle the country in the United States.
Many face forced repatriation at the deadline of March 31st. This is a decision released only last month and has caused widespread fear.
“Pakistan should give more time to show compassion and award refugees as a fellow Muslim nation and neighbor,” said Haji Abdullah Buhari, community leader in Karachi. “It’s impossible to get rid of life in just a few days. Many have spent decades here, and now they’re forced to go back to a country they barely know.”
The continued deportation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is attributed to growing frustration with the Taliban regime, which accuses Pakistani militants of evacuating deadly attacks within Pakistan, particularly Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or the TTP. The Taliban has denied these allegations, but tensions continue to rise.
In 2023, Pakistan expelled hundreds of thousands of Afghans. However, most refugees awaiting resettlement in the Western countries have largely been spared thanks to diplomatic intervention.
But their fate became increasingly uncertain when President Trump issued an executive order in January to halt all refugee hospitalizations in the United States. The decision left thousands of Afghans stranded in Pakistan.
In February, Pakistan announced plans to repatriate Afghans awaiting resettlement by March 31, announcing 800,000 Pakistan-issued Afghan citizenship cardholders and an unknown number of undocumented Afghan immigrants.
The decision has sparked widespread unrest, especially among former Afghan government, security officials, women’s rights activists and journalists, among those most vulnerable to Taliban persecution.
“When Pakistan forces back to Afghanistan, many have said they fear prisons, torture, and even executions,” said Moniza Kakar, a lawyer for the Joint Action Committee for Refugees, a Pakistan civil society network advocates for international intervention and support to protect lives.
Avaaz, a global campaign that works to secure humanitarian visas for a group of 60 Afghan women’s rights activists stuck in Pakistan, has also expressed deep concern over the deportation drive.
Among those affected are Samia Hamza, a women’s rights activist and former law and international relations student under the US-funded Denton program. After the Taliban took power, she protested against the ban on education for the girl, putting herself in danger even more.
She fled to Pakistan as conditions deteriorated in the second half of 2021. However, she has since faced serious discrimination and economic hardships while awaiting our resettlement through special immigration visas for Afghans.
Like many Afghans, she was devastated by the Trump administration’s decision to stop new immigration. “We have not heard anything about our incident since,” said Hamza, who lives with my husband and four children in Islamabad. “Bringing back to Afghanistan with the threat of deportation means facing serious risks.”
The Pakistani government has ruled out an extension of the period of deportation despite appeals from international organizations and the Taliban regime. The government justifies the crackdown on Afghans, similar to ongoing deportation efforts in the US and various European countries.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s representative for the UN Refugee Agency, Pakistan, urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to ensure voluntary and safe benefits. “Compulsory revenues don’t help anyone and they’re not sustainable. Many deported in 2023 have already returned.”
Many Afghans remember the horrifying scenes of the 2023 exile and fear the moment when police conditions arrive. They knock on the door, roll the family into a truck, move them to a detention centre, then push them into Afghanistan.
“We all pray for the miracle that Pakistan will stop deportation to a country my children have never seen before,” said Naik Bakt, an Afghan refugee who arrived in Karachi in 1996.
“I’m scared. What do you do in Afghanistan? Where do you go? How do you survive?”
