“Please don't do this”: Afghan families in Pakistan, caught in repression | Refugee news

Islamabad, Pakistan – When Salima Ahmad* noticed a three -day gap between the leakage of her family visas and the date of a document proving that they had applied for a renewal, her heart was filled with horror. Afghan citizen living in Pakistan since 2022, Ahmad feared that authorities would arrest her family for illegal residence in the country.

On February 7, just two days after their visas expired, her fears became a reality.

A group of police officers, including women's officers, attacked her hired house, identifying her family as undocumented residents. Despite his requests and attempts to show that their passports have been sent for the renewal of Visa, the police are taking away their husband.

“I continued to be asked, begging for his release. I tried to show them my documentation and proof that we had applied for the renewal of Visa, but they did not listen, “Ahmad told Al Jazeera.

The police then told Ahmad to pack their children's belongings, warning that it would also be taken to a refugee camp and deported, created on the outskirts of Islamabad.

“I asked them not to do this. My children would be injured. But in the end, they put us in a van and took us away, “she said.

After spending two days in a tent in the camp, located on the outskirts of Islamabad, Ahmad managed to return home only two days later, organizing a bribe of $ 60,000 ($ 216).

“I had to ask my relatives who came to check us, to arrange this loan. Only then was we allowed to go home, “she said. So far, the family has passports back, with visas stamped for another month, at the end of which Salima is afraid of repeating the humiliating and terrible experience that lasts in early February.

Ahmad's history is one of many, as thousands of Afghanistan citizens in Pakistan, many of whom fled after the fall of Kabul in the Taliban in August 2021, are now facing an uncertain future according to a recent government news.

In a two -page document issued by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's office last month, the Pakistan government outlined a three -phase plan for sending Afghan citizens living in the country.

The first phase includes the “immediate” deportation of all undocumented Afghan citizens. This includes 800,000 Afghans who have not entered the country of valid visas, but which has been provided since 2017 Afghan civil cards (ACC) by the government of Pakistan himself.

The second phase focuses on Afghan citizens who have the so -called registration evidence or POR cards issued for the first time in 2006. The last phase will be directed to Afghan citizens who can move to third countries.

If the plan is implemented as intended, only valid visas owners will remain in the country – none of the other refugees who have entered Pakistan under forced without appropriate documentation will be allowed to remain.

In fact, the notification escalates an approach to stop starting to throw away refugees from Afghanistan. Originally applied at the end of 2023, the plan has already led to over 800,000 Afghan citizens who have returned to Afghanistan in the last 18 months, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCA).

Refugee household history

Pakistan hosted millions of Afghan refugees after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Over the next 20 years, as the Civil War covered Afghanistan and the Taliban first took control in 1996, consecutive waves of refugees arrived in Pakistan.

After the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001, after the September 11 attacks, the fall of the Taliban led to the creation of a civil government, which made thousands of Afghans to return home.

Ahmad, who first moved to Pakistan as a seven -year -old in 1997, was among those who moved to Kabul in 2010. After the family moved, she completed a business degree and began working for the Ministry of Finance of Afghanistan with President Ashraf Ghani.

“At that time I was happily living in Afghanistan. My mother and two sisters moved to the United States around 2019, but I was comfortable in Kabul, “she said.

However, the stunning return of the Taliban in August 2021 caused another wave of displacement, with between 600,000 and 800,000 Afghans seeking refuge in Pakistan.

Currently, Pakistan hosts almost more than 2.5 million Afghans, according to government forecasts. Among them, about 1.3 million have a registration card (POR) proof card (POR) as a legitimate residence certificates in Pakistan. They are now facing an uncertain future according to the three -stage “relocation” plan.

Those who arrived after the ingestion of the Taliban in August 2021 had to rely on the renewal of visas to stay in Pakistan, a process that is expensive, unpredictable and delayed.

Although the official visa renewal fee is $ 20, Ahmad says the presentation of passports via legal channels often leads to prolonged confiscation or direct rejection, putting the candidates at risk of detention. Therefore, they pay visa agents to speed up the process.

“We have to pay everywhere between 15,000 and 20,000 rupees ($ 54 to $ 72) to renew our visas. It has been valid for six months, but since January this year, the government has only provided one -month visas, “she complained.

Tense relationships and increasing repression

Once considered to be one of the closest allies of Afghan Taliban, Pakistan has seen relations with his neighbor worsen in the last three years.

Islamabad accuses the Afghan rulers of the Taliban for failing to restrict the activities of the Pakistani Taliban or Techrek-E-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group that appeared in 2007 and has since committed hundreds of attacks on the Pakistani security forces.

In 2024 alone, Pakistan witnessed more than 500 attacks, leading to more than 1,500 deaths among civilians and law enforcement officers.

The Pakistani government often accuses Afghan citizens of participating in these attacks and claims that Kabul is providing TTP shelter, an accusation of Afghan Taliban denies.

But the recent notification to the government suggests that Afghan refugees are now in the middle of these bilateral tensions.

Afghan citizens holding POR cards have so far enjoy some rights, such as the ability to open bank accounts and the ability to register with the Pakistan database. Now, suddenly, they are outsider and the expulsion queue.

In July 2023, after visiting the head of the UNCCA, Philippo Grandi, Pakistan extended the validity of the POR card until June 30, 2025. The government's latest notice suggests that there is no plan at the moment to extend their stay.

Ikramula Jamil*, a 31-year-old Afghan citizen, born in Pakistan, lived there almost all his life, except for six years between 2015 and 2021, when he moved to Afghanistan with his family.

Jamil and his family had to move out after the Pakistani military began a large military offensive in the northwestern province of Hiber Pahtunva, where they lived.

But after the fall of Kabul, Jamil, the largest of his eight siblings, chose to return to Pakistan.

“Due to my language skills and relationships, I have been able to support our Afghan community since 2021, but now, with the vague policies of the government, I am afraid that I can also be at risk of deportation,” Jamil told al Jazeera.

Even UNCBA is not completely clear to Pakistan's plans, said Kaiser Africa, a spokesman for the UN Agency in Pakistan.

“We are constantly about them (the government) to explain exactly what the plan is, but we have not been given a clear answer,” Afredi told Al Jazeera. “There are several categories of people who are documented and registered as required, so what does the government mean by removing them from Islamabad or Ravalpindi?”

UNCBOC is said that more than 800 Afghan citizens, including women and children, have already been deported by Islamabad and Ravalpindy since the beginning of the year.

Praising Pakistan's “generosity” in the household of millions of Afghan refugees in the last four decades, Philip Chandler, the head of the UNCBA in Pakistan, has called on the authorities to be more apprehensive.

“Forced return to Afghanistan may put some people at increased risk. We urge Pakistan to continue to ensure the safety of Afghans at risk, regardless of their status of documentation, “said Chandler, according to a press release.

Deadline

The government notice of January also set a deadline for March 31 for Afghan citizens in anticipation of resettlement to third countries. Those who fail to leave the risk until then.

Afridi called the situation “complicated”, noting that thousands of Afghans arrived after August 2021 with legitimate asylum requests or hanging cases of migration.

“There are people whose resettance cases are still being processed, and others who are afraid of their lives if they return to Afghanistan,” he said.

Since 2021, nearly 500,000 Afghan citizens have contacted UNCC for assistance.

“We have issued documentation to these people; To show that they are listed in our system. All we want from the government is at least to admit it and not arrest or deport them, “Afrid said.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said earlier this month that “nearly 80,000 Afghans were already displaced to other countries, while 40,000 remain in Pakistan in anticipation of moving.

Jamil, who is currently working for the media, applies for the US Corps, a Government Program for the United States refugees.

“I applied for this program last year and even received an email from the State Department that my case would be processed. I had my first interview in December and I was informed that my settlement process would start in a few days, “he says.

But with the new Trump administration of Jamil, Jamil is not sure what the future possesses for him, as the new US president pauses the refugee program.

“After the new president came in, I was informed that the program was in detention. I don't know what will happen to that. Now, Por is running out and I have no idea what to do. “

Names marked with an asterisk*have been changed to protect identities.