Due respect: Afghan refugees ask to be repatriated with dignity
Over 90 people either arrested or sent back home from across K-P
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.
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.