Residents of Afghan Basti protesting at Hala Naka near Hyderabad on National Highway against police excesses during search operation for illegal immigrants. PHOTO: INP
A recent crackdown on illegal Afghan immigrants triggered a backlash from the Pakhtun community of Hyderabad who alleged that the police were detaining Pakistani citizens after dubbing them foreigners.
Protests erupted in Hyderabad and Jamshoro districts on Sunday where hundreds of people blocked the National Highway and Indus Highway at different locations, including Hala Naka, Hyderabad, Kotri and Jamshoro.
“The police not only detained innocent Pakistanis but also took away valuables like jewellery, cellphones and cash,” one of the protesters, Sher Shah Khan alleged. Protesters complained that even Pakhtuns having their national identity cards were not spared.
Haji Sher Zaman, former district president of the Awami National Party (ANP), alleged that during the last three days, the police detained dozens of Pakhtuns and later released them after receiving bribes. “The chief minister has given the police another means to extort bribes from citizens. First they [police] made the life of Pakhtuns miserable in the name of anti-Taliban operations. And now, they are doing the same under the garb of hunting Afghans.”
Qadir Khan, a local leader of the ANP, clarified that his party did not oppose action against the Taliban or against illegal Afghan immigrants. “Our workers have suffered more than any other group at the hands of the Taliban. But the police are victimising Pakhtuns,” he added.
He blamed the provincial government for denying domiciles to Pakhtuns who have been living in the province for the last three to five decades.
In Kotri, the protesters blocked the Indus Highway at Khurshid Chowk. They surrounded a police patrol van, forcing the policemen to flee leaving behind the van. The protest ended after the police assured a representative of the community, Rozi Khan Pathan, that they would not detain Pakhtuns having national identity cards.
SP (Headquarters) Umer Tufail said they were carrying out an operation against illegal Afghans in Hala Naka, Pathan Colony and SITE area. According to the Hyderabad police spokesman, Mazhar Shani, over 90 illegal Afghan immigrants have been detained in Hyderabad division.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 3rd, 2014.
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The Ummah is for everyone, Pakistani central Asians, who themselves are migrants to the Indus, cannot stop Afghan brothers who are part of the Ummah to exercise their right to exist anywhere and everywhere in the Ummah.No wonder Imran Khan's tone is getting more stricter day by day.One day the noble Pakthoons will ask for a final settlement.