The Pakistan government said Friday “we decided who stays”, after the United Nations Chief of Refugees urged the country to stop his massive expulsion from Afghas after a great earthquake.
Thousands of Afghans who were registered as refugees have risen by the border from Pakistan in recent days, with increased yields despite a weekend earthquake that killed 2,200 people and flattened entire villages in Afghanistan.
He promoted a call from Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for refugees: “Given the circumstances, I appeal to (Pakistan Government) to stop the implementation of the repatriation plan of illegal foreigners.”
Read more: The UN Refugee Chief urges Pakistan to stop Afghan expulsions after the earthquake
Pakistan has received Afghans fleeing violence and humanitarian crises for more than four decades, from the Soviet invasion to the acquisition of the Taliban 2021.
“Any people without documentation must leave. This is what Pakistan is doing and what any other country will do, even in Europe and other countries … it is our territory, we decide who stays,” said Shafqat Ali Khan, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said information about the press.
The World Health Organization estimates that 270,000 returned have recently established themselves in the districts affected by the earthquake that Pakistan borders.
The Afghan who expect a relocation to Germany reported several police raids in guest houses where German authorities have asked them to stay for months and their cases are processed.
Many of those who live in the villages affected by the earthquake in eastern Afghanistan were among the more than four million Afghas forced to return to the country from Iran and Pakistan in recent years.
Several Afghan cohorts have found different degrees of stability, including access to work and education, in Pakistan.
Read too: The third earthquake arrives in southeastern Afghanistan after mortal tremors kill more than 2,200
Some were born and grew there, while others transmitted on their way to resettlement in the West.
However, the Pakistan government, citing an increase in violent attacks and insurgent campaigns, launched a repression in 2023 to evict them, painting the population as “terrorists and criminals.”
Since then, more than 1.2 million Afghan have been forced to return from Pakistan, including more than 443,000 only this year, according to the United Nations.
The repression has recently attacked an estimated 1.3 million refugees with registration cards (by) issued by the UNHCR of the UN refugee agency.
Islamabad has established a deadline of September 1 so that arrest and deportation leave or in front of them.
