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The repatriation of undocumented migrants ordered by the MoI of Pakistan on October 3, 2023, included 1.73 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, to leave the country or face forced deportation, establishing the deadline of November 1. Claiming to do so, the administration cites security concerns following an upsurge in terror assaults.
According to the statistics of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 450,000 Afghans have returned to their country after Pakistan's expulsion campaign.
Background
Afghan migration in the late 1970s:
Late in December 1979, the Soviet Union launched an invasion of Afghanistan, providing the cover story to do so in response to the call for help from the Afghan Communist Government.
Mohammad Daud Khan, who deposed the monarchy of Mohammad Zahir Shah to establish Afghanistan as a republic, elected himself president in 1973. He is known to have established educational and social reforms and implemented a pro-Soviet policy. He was also a big supporter of the creation of Pashtunistan in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which deteriorated relations between the two countries.
Daud Khan was assassinated in a coup in April 1978, passing power to a Communist faction headed by Nur Mohammad Taraki.
It was during the Zahir Shah administration that Nur Mohammad Taraki engaged in politics and helped form the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which had strong links to the Soviet Union. Due to internal conflicts, the PDPA broke up into two factions: the Banner (parcham) party led by Babrak Karmal and the Khalaq (peoples) party led by Nur Mohammad Taraki. The parties were compelled to rejoin under Soviet pressure, and ultimately, Daud Khan's was overthrown by Nur Mohammad.
After a successful coup led by Nur Mohammad Taraki, Barbrak Karmal, and Hafizullah Amin, Taraki initially elected himself as the president and prime minister but was later forced by the Soviet Union to elect Hafizullah Amin as the prime minister. Barbrak Karmal went into exile in Moscow.
Taraki and Amin introduced reforms that were ruthless with no regard for the Afghan culture, which were resented by both rural and urban people known as the Mujahideen.
In the beginning of September, Taraki went to a conference in Havana, and upon returning, he was visited by Leonid Brezhev in Moscow. Brezhev advised Taraki to eliminate Amin,
whose actions were escalating the insurgency. However, Amin, already weary of the Soviet Union, had taken steps to ensure that he was aware of all the developments. And when he got to know that they were planning to strip him of power, he made plans to assassinate Taraki and took Taraki as a prisoner with the help of palace guards. He took control of the government and declared Taraki dead due to an “undisclosed illness.”
The Soviet Union initially agreed to work with Amin, but then sent paratroopers into Afghanistan and killed Amin’s nephew; they took power and assassinated Amin. The Soviet Union brought Babrak Karmal back on a Soviet plane, electing him as the head of government. The Soviet Union deployed its troops across the cities to contain the insurgency, using tactics to elude the Mujahideen attacks.
The Mujahideen’s, backed by the US, were able to spread across the country. The Soviet Union then began to target Mujahideen-supporting civilians by bombing them, which led to the migration of about 2.8 million Afghans to take asylum in Pakistan, and 15 million fled to Iran.
Later, Mujahideen were able to neutralise Soviet power due to support from the US.
Afghanistan’s Peace; Pakistan’s Contribution:
Pakistan has played a pivotal role in bringing peace to Afghanistan. When millions of Afghans were forced to flee their homeland, Pakistan's open border provided a safe haven for 3.2 million of them in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), which shares a border with Afghanistan. Pakistan is also said to provide a sanctuary for Mujahideen military operations and serve as a conduit for delivering weapons against the Soviet resistance. Moreover, Pakistan played an integral part in bringing the Mujahideen cause to the international front. Although the Pakistan and Afghanistan governments have never shared a cordial relationship, Pakistan's contribution to bringing peace to Afghanistan has been significant. The country has lost billions of dollars, provided extensive resources to Afghani refugees, and helped achieve peace in Afghanistan.
Impact of Refugee Migration in Pakistan:
The arrival of Afghan refugees in Pakistan posed a multitude of demographic and economic challenges that were difficult to reverse. The North-West Frontier Province, which boasts the largest forest cover, suffered damage due to the settlement of Afghan people. Consequently, drug trafficking, smuggling, and terrorism began to increase in Pakistan. The Afghanistan crisis created a lot of economic, security, and social problems for Pakistan. However, Pakistan has always adopted a generous attitude towards these refugees, as it considers it a humanitarian and Islamic duty.
In The Refugee Problem: An Overview, a Journal article by Ghulam Umar states:
“Although Pakistan maintains constant support for Afghan refugees, it has repeatedly clarified that it has always considered them temporary guests, whose stay may be rather long, but for whom the only desirable solution would be that such conditions should be created in their own country, which would be conducive to their voluntary repatriation.”
October 3, Pakistan passes order to deport all illegal migrants;
The Ministry of Interior of Pakistan, on October 3, ordered all the illegal migrants to voluntarily leave the country, which directly did not point to Afghan refugees, but according to the UNHCR, "Afghan refugees in Pakistan are the single largest community of refugees in the world."
This order issued an ultimatum to 1.7 million Afghan refugees to leave the country or face forced deportation, most of whom were born and worked here with absolutely no ties to Afghanistan. Adding to the statement, the MoI added that after that, a time frame for remaining ACC and PoR holders will be given.
According to the statistics of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 450,000 Afghans have returned to their country after Pakistan's expulsion campaign, rushing to the border and leaving their lives behind.
According to UNHCR-IOM Pakistan Flash Update
- During the past seven days, UNHCR and IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) estimate 11,711 Afghans returned through the Torkham, Ghulam Khan (located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Chaman, Badini and Bahramcha (located in Balochistan) border crossing points to Afghanistan
- Fear of arrest (90%) remains the most common reason to return to Afghanistan among returnees.
- Returnees were most likely to return from Balochistan (35%) in Pakistan and intend to go to Nangarhar (30%), Kandahar (28%) and Kabul (16%) in Afghanistan.
In October 2023, ahead of the Pakistan Government’s deadline of November 1, 2023, for forced deportations of unregistered Afghan refugees, Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Senior Director, said:
“Amnesty International strongly reiterates its call to the Government of Pakistan to immediately reverse its decision to forcibly deport unregistered Afghan refugees ahead of the deadline set for November 1. Pakistan must meet its international legal obligations including the principle of non-refoulement and stop the crackdown against, and harassment of, Afghan refugees across the country.”
On Wednesday, the MoI extended the deadline to February 29, 2024.
The government of Pakistan declaring Aghans as the burden on their economy and the reason for increasing crime rates accused Afghan soil of holding military operations to orchestrate the attacks that have been occurring in Pakistan, which the Taliban explicitly refute, saying;
“The Islamic Emirates do not allow anyone to use the territory of Afghanistan against Pakistan. The Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan is not Responsible for maintaining peace in Pakistan, they should solve their internal problems by themselves and not blame Afghanistan for their failures. Since insecurity has increased in Pakistan after the victory of the Islamic Emirates, it does not mean that we are behind the insecurity in Pakistan.”
Impact of migration in Afghanistan:
The forced return of Afghan migrants deepens the humanitarian crisis. With extremely harsh cold weather conditions prevailing in Afghanistan, the mass return of Afghani people is poised to exacerbate already-due resources in Afghanistan. The new Taliban government, with its strict government laws and regulations, causes concerns for the girls who are allowed to study until the 6th grade only in Afghanistan. Staying in Pakistan would have been the only means of education for girls. Many feminists, journalists, and social rights activists who will face restrictions on returning to Afghanistan are a cause for serious concern. The undocumented migrants include not only the migrants who fled Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion but also those who fled the country after the Taliban took over in 2021, fearing for their lives.
Conclusion:
While the Pakistani government provides the cover story of security concerns and the economic crisis for which the evidence is still up to debate, the reason for their deportation, and the Afghanistan government struggling with limited resources to accommodate the influx of refugees. Afghan migrants are left in the midst and are forced to flee to nothing, where war has just settled. While some Pakistanis argue that they have been hospitable to Afghan refugees despite the detrimental impact on their economy and resources, supporting the government's decision to order their departure, others say that the expulsion campaign is a violation of human rights while the government has provided so little time to make the migration. The displacement of these migrants is anticipated to have significant implications for work, education, the economy, and the human rights of migrants.
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