Islamabad: Several Afghan migrants and women activists were beaten and detained after Islamabad police conducted overnight raids in Pakistani capital’s Argentina Park, Afghan media reported on Tuesday.
Police surrounded the park without prior notice at around 1:30 am and swept through tents set up by about 200 Afghan families and activists who had been living there for around four months and removed them using physical force, Afghan media outlet Amu TV reported citing sources.
In a video message, one migrant said, “They came, gathered everyone, dismantled all tents and loaded us into vehicles. Some children are injured. We don’t know where they’re taking us.”
Another activist, with wounds on her eye and forehead, said she was beaten by police. “I am here for rights of women, for human rights. Because I am Afghan. Because I am a woman,” Amu TV quoted her as saying.
The Afghan refugees and the activists said that police threatened to forcibly relocate around 400 vulnerable families to Afghanistan, sparking concerns among rights groups that the actions breach international standards for refugee protection.
Activists have urged international human rights groups and media to raise their voice for Afghan migrants, warning that continued silence over the issue “means abandoning people whose only weapon is the cry for justice.”
Last week, several Afghan refugees in Pakistan said that they have been overwhelmed by continuous pressure from the country’s police which, apart from conducting searches, was arresting people and exploiting their vulnerable situation as a source of income.
A report in Afghanistan-based newspaper 8AM Media, also known as Hasht-e-Subh Daily, highlighted that Afghan refugees in Pakistan do not have basic human rights and live in constant fear and anxiety. Human rights groups and refugee-support groups have remained silent about the uncertainty and the government’s failure to fulfil its commitment about human rights and the protection of refugees.
Over the past few months, as tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan continue, Islamabad has increased its pressure on Afghan refugees with the Pakistani forces conducting widespread harassment of migrants each day in various areas, including Islamabad. Apart from official operations involving the arrest of Afghan refugees without visas, people in plain clothes extort money from migrants in residential areas. Afghan people have said that they live in inhumane conditions filled with fear and anxiety and their refugee rights are not respected.
“The situation is extremely distressing. I wish the official operations team would simply arrest and take people away. This method is not right; the police know no one will report them, so they come individually for searches. Several men in plain clothes lie in wait in the neighbourhood, grab someone, and take them away. It is unclear whether they are police, thieves, or cooperating with the police. Now, even if an ordinary person commits theft or kidnapping under the name of the police, people assume he is a police officer,” quoted an Afghan national as saying.
“These individuals detain migrants in their personal vehicles; some are released on the spot after paying money, while others are taken to police posts. They are probably police themselves or collaborating with the police. The level of theft and robbery is extremely high, and no institution hears the people’s voices. The situation is deeply painful; a country that has no defender and whose citizens have no protection or credibility anywhere in the world,” the refugee added.
(IANS)
