Kabul: Nearly 4,000 Afghan refugees were repatriated from Iran and Pakistan in a single day, Taliban official stated on Monday.
Sharing the High Commission for Migrants Issues report on X, Taliban Deputy Spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat stated that 713 families, comprising 3,926 people, returned to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan on Sunday, Pajhwok Afghan News reported.
He stated that Afghan refugees travelled to Afghanistan through Pul-i-Abresham in Nimroz, Bahramcha in Helmand, Islam Qala crossing in Herat, Torkham crossing in Nangarhar and Spin Boldak in Kandahar.
Hamdullah Fitrat said that 1,788 Afghan families, comprising 7,669 people, were taken to their respective areas while 1,055 families were provided humanitarian assistance. He added that telecommunication companies provided 634 SIM cards to Afghan returnees.
Taliban Deputy Spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat revealed that 5,412 Afghan migrants were deported from Iran and Pakistan on Sunday.
Earlier in November, several Afghan refugees in Pakistan said that they had 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 an Afghan 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 regarding the uncertainty and the government’s failure to fulfil its commitment to human rights and the protection of refugees.
Over the past few months, as tensions between the Taliban 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,” the report 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)
