Silence on Afghans

‘Going home’ is a particularly evil way to describe expulsion of hundreds of thousands of people. But that is where we are at. Buried deep among the news in Urdu papers, the expulsion is described as a form of homecoming. English newspapers are doing marginally better, but not by much. Afghan deportations are fairly low on the priority list. While awfully tragic images of flattened buildings and grieving family members in Gaza are shown aplenty, the local newspapers fail to show any images of Afghans being detained and forced to go back to a country many have never set foot in. One has to rely on foreign newspapers for those pictures. The champions of Muslim solidarity are reminding us all on the tragedies in Palestine, but silent on the issue at home. The local police officers are proudly describing their “operations” in various parts of the city, while local media and civil rights groups are barred from entering the detention centres.

As depressing and awful as this may be, it is not surprising to see who is speaking for human dignity, and who only wants to talk about the problem in other parts of the world; who is proud to round up Afghans and who is denied access. What is perhaps more painful for me is the reaction of many in my own social network — family and friends, who are supportive of this expulsion. In the last few days, I have heard a number of arguments from people who support the current crackdown. Here are some of them.

The first one is about economics. A number of people now believe that our economic woes are because of Afghans. Unfortunately, there is no real evidence to back this claim. The poor policies of successive governments, the elite capture, the rampant corruption, the bloated bureaucracy, the misguided spending, all seem to have been forgotten. Contrary to what is being said by the government, there is strong reason to believe that deporting Afghans would have a negative impact on several sectors including construction, agriculture and commerce.

The second argument is about security. It is hard to imagine how deporting 1.7 million people, including young children, addresses this issue. If anything, there is a greater risk of deteriorating relations with Afghanistan and further radicalisation among people who may gravitate towards groups with extremist ideologies.

The third argument I have heard is about the situation in Afghanistan. Hard to imagine, but some colleagues are saying that things are fine in Afghanistan now, and it is safe for people to return. I am not sure what my colleagues are reading, and why absence of news is viewed as a sign of great progress and stability. Afghanistan continues to be in the midst of an awful humanitarian crisis with significant food insecurity and collapsed infrastructure. Women can no longer attend institutions of education. I should also add that sending people back to a food insecure country in the middle of winter is particularly evil (or maybe that is the point?)

The fourth argument is about law and Pakistan’s legal obligations. Here again, the terrain is murky at best. First, it is peculiar to imagine that a caretaker government with no public mandate has the power or moral authority to enact this policy. Second, how people are being arrested, detained and deported is also highly questionable. There are repeated instances of people with appropriate documents being arrested and sent to the holding centres for deportation. And finally, even for the sake of argument if we believe that parts of this policy are legal, we should remember that just because something might be legal does not make it right. Just because slavery was legal in many parts of the world until recently did not make the institution any less morally reprehensible.

The only argument here that holds weight is that we do not view Afghans as equal human beings. We are right in saying that Palestinians are routinely dehumanised in the West; we should remember that when it comes to Afghans, we are guilty of just the same.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2023.

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