Afghan refugees have sought an honourable exit from the country. PHOTO: INP
SWABI/ MANSEHRA/ PESHAWAR/ BANNU:
As raids against Afghan refugees intensify across the province, people belonging to the neighbouring country asked on Tuesday that they be repatriated in a dignified manner. On the very same day, over 90 reportedly unregistered refugees, some of them underage students, were either rounded up in raids across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) or sent back to their native country.
Asking for a respectable exit
Afghan refugees have sought an honourable exit from the country. They asked the police to stop harassing them and let the governments of both countries form a strategy along with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for their repatriation.
Addressing a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, Peace Pakistan and Afghanistan (PPA) Chairman Riayatullah Khan said refugees had been living in Pakistan for over three decades. He appreciated locals for their willingness to share homes with their Afghan brothers and sisters, adding such acts of kindness would never be forgotten.
He said they were indebted to the Pakistani government and people for their complete support.
However, he flayed the provincial government’s attitude towards Afghan refugees. Khan claimed some of them were being tortured at police stations despite having Proof of Registration (PoR) cards.
He said Pakistani police were raiding houses, hotels and businesses in search of Afghan nationals and were even putting registered refugees behind bars.
The PPA chairman said despite having been assured of the provision all facilities mentioned in the PoR cards, the provincial government failed to provide the said amenities. He requested officials to stop harassing registered Afghan refugees.
The association members also condemned the brutal attack on Army Public School (APS), terming it an act against humanity.
Bannu crackdown
Abiding by the K-P government’s decision to expel unregistered Afghans, Bannu police launched a crackdown in the city on Tuesday.
Police officials confirmed around 50 Afghans were rounded up and are in the process of being interrogated. Officials said those lacking PoR cards or other documents validating their stay would be booked under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. If the court finds the arrested people were staying in the country illegally, they will be deported to Afghanistan, added officials.
The arrested Afghans alleged they were insulted and disgraced by the police and were not even allowed to lock up their shops.
Sent home
Around 22 Afghan students studying in different seminaries of Swabi left for their home country on Tuesday.
The students enrolled in Swabi’s Jamia Farooqia Shah Mansoor seminary were reportedly put on vehicles bound for Afghanistan. The farewell ceremony was attended by SHO Roohul Amin.
Mohtamim Advocate Mohammad Usman told the students the shift in government policy meant he could no longer accommodate them.
Illegal stay
The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and police conducted a raid at a seminary in Chattar Plain, Mansehra on Tuesday and arrested 14 Afghan students for illegally staying in the country. The students were aged between eight and 16 years. Battal SHO Iftikhar Swati told the media Madrassah Isha’htud Toheed al-Sunnat was raided and 14 Afghans were arrested under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2015.
COMMENTS (7)
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To all the commenters saying "kick them out", nearly more than 130 thousand Pakistanis currently live and work in Afghanistan (excluding the ones begging on the street out of poverty). Just get hold of a few and ask how they are treated here? Are they being kicked out? How many of them have legal documents to stay in Afghanistan. I personally know, around 15 and none of them have a passport or official visa. But we afghans respect and treat them normal, because we do remember the time when we went to Pakistan and the Pakistani People embraced us with open arms and most of them still do. All at a time when we hear that 8 out of 10 suicide bombers captured in Afghanistan, are either of Pakistani origin or they have been trained in Pakistan to carry out the attack! Now the onus is on both governments and its people to think logically, work together and find a peaceful solution.
@purede51: What about those Afghans who have Pakistani NICs and most of them is working in Government Organizations also in security forces. The person arrested from the canteen of APS has also Pakistani NIC. How government will now solve this issue? I have also heard that most of Afghans, who were repatriated, have again entered through FATA in Pakistan then how government will tackle this issue also?
Almost every Afghan I have met in the West has traveled through Pakistan or at least lived there; using our resources which can be acceptable to a degree. But the hate which they spread is unbearable. We know we ruined your country but if you hate us, why use us and then abuse us? Hypocrisy.
kick them out they are snakes which bite same hand who feed them. i met many afghans in europe they badly hate pakistan so why are they there for? i always say to them: you are criminals you bring the crime along where you go. get rid of such unthankfull people they are snakes use no mercy.
If they were here for over 3 decades as dictated above, what of the ones who were born in Pakistan, do they get a Pakistani Nationality and all as do we see in the west, or do we see their DNA being foreign and therefore alien?
We must remember couple of issues first! The BLA and local ethnic parties are losing their vote base due to non local voters. The Seminary students from Afghanistan or such are strictly checked for their sponsors. If non-found; they are sent back! Under the current Zarb-e-Azb rules are very particular against undocumented or sponsored foreign students or immigrants. Pak citizens respect Afghan brothers and would try their best to help them in their processing. When bread is scarce and means are bleak it happens everywhere regardless of people back ground.