Organising Afghan Immigrants Is A Major Issue for Iran, Says Iranian Interior Minister

Durrani asked the Taliban to hand over TTP members to Islamabad or eliminate their threat.

On Thursday, Asif Durrani spoke about Afghanistan at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad. During his speech, Durrani acknowledged that Pakistan's relationship with Afghanistan has always been difficult, but he praised that the Afghan governments did not collude with India, Pakistan's enemy.

He was referring to the two wars between India and Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, when Afghanistan declared neutrality despite political and border disputes with Pakistan and friendly relations with India.

He said that "negotiations are underway on Afghan soil" to end TTP attacks, however, he added that at this time, he could not provide more details about the negotiations to the public.

Durrani stated that currently, Pakistan doesn’t blame the Taliban regime [for the TTP attacks], however, they expect the Taliban to contribute to maintaining peace in their border areas.

He added that TTP members who have taken refuge in Afghanistan should either return to Pakistan or that threat should be neutralised.

Durrani said that Pakistani militias use modern weapons that remained in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal.

The Pakistani representative expressed support for the commencement of dialogue and reconciliation in Afghanistan. However, he argued that the Doha Agreement is not a viable foundation for political talks. According to him, it is essential to identify the necessary steps for reconciliation and dialogue among Afghanistan's political factions.

He said that only Afghans have the ability to establish a normal situation in Afghanistan, not the neighbouring countries, including Pakistan.

On Thursday, the organisation reported that a week had passed since the Taliban forcibly detained this women's rights activist from her home in Afghanistan.

"We must not forget them and all other civic activists in Taliban's prisons," wrote Freedom Now on social media platform X.

Zholia Parsi, the head of the Spontaneous Movement of Women Protestors, had been detained from her house in Kabul with her child on September 27. Earlier, the Taliban had also detained Neda Parwani another member of the Spontaneous Movement of Women Protestors, from her house in Khair Khana area of Kabul. Parwani had also been detained along with her husband and child.

Zholia Parsi and Neda Parwani are members of a group of women's rights activists in Afghanistan who protested peacefully against the anti-women policies of Taliban since the group’s takeover of power in 2021.

During the past two years, the Taliban has continuously responded to the peaceful protests of women with violence, arrests and torture.

The EU Parliament said that after taking over power in Afghanistan, the Taliban’s oppression of women, civil society, human rights defenders and human rights violations has increased.

In the resolution, the representatives of the European Parliament have asked the Taliban authorities to fully implement their commitments regarding general amnesty.

The resolution had been adopted with 519 votes in favour, 15 votes against and 18 abstentions.

The EU parliament has condemned the increase in human rights violations in Afghanistan, especially arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture of the former security forces members.

It has also condemned the gender apartheid policy of the Taliban in the resolution and demanded reversing the severe restrictions on the rights of women and girls in line with Afghanistan's international obligations.

Furthermore, it strongly condemned various human rights violations committed by the Taliban, which encompassed the "brutal persecution of Christians" and the oppression of other religious minorities, which were seen as a deliberate attempt to eradicate religious and ideological diversity within Afghanistan.

In the resolution, the members of the European Parliament asked the European Union and its member states to increase their support for the Afghan civil society by funding specific assistance and protection programmes for human rights defenders.

During the last two years, the Taliban has issued more than fifty decrees against women. Human rights organisations have said that the group has practically excluded women from society applying strict policies.

Human rights defenders have said that the Taliban has set up "gender apartheid" in Afghanistan by gender segregation and depriving women from human and basic rights.

Earlier, human rights activists asked the international community to recognise gender apartheid in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Jilani emphasised on Pakistan's commitment to enhance bilateral relations with the Taliban during his meeting with Muttaqi.

On Thursday, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on social media platform X that Jilani also emphasised the importance of addressing challenges that threaten regional peace and stability.

The Taliban's foreign minister travelled to China on Tuesday leading a delegation to participate in the third meeting of the Trans-Himalaya Forum.

Pakistan and Taliban foreign ministers held a meeting amidst rising tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban over the deportation of Afghan refugees.

The Pakistani government has set November 1 as the deadline for all the immigrants living "illegally" to voluntarily leave the country; otherwise, they will face forced repatriation.

Furthermore, Pakistan's interior minister said that of the 24 suicide bombers involved in attacks in Pakistan since January 2023, 14 were of Afghan origin.

Earlier, Yaqoob called Pakistan's treatment of Afghan immigrants "horror and barbaric".

He stated that the expulsion of Afghan immigrants strains and damages the relations between the two countries.

He also called the decision of Islamabad "unfair" and asked international organisations as well as the people and scholars of Pakistan to prevent the deportation of Afghan immigrants.

The Taliban’s Defence Minister expressed these remarks on Thursday at the graduation ceremony of the group’s police academy.

Simultaneously, Mullah Yaqoob asked the immigrants to return to Afghanistan and claimed that security has been provided in the country.

Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister, also called Pakistan's treatment of Afghan immigrants "inappropriate" and said, "This situation is not acceptable." He called Pakistan's decision to deport Afghan refugees unilateral.

The Pakistani government has set November 1 as the deadline for all the immigrants living "illegally" to voluntarily leave the country; otherwise, they will face forced repatriation.

During a press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, October 3, Pakistan's Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said that Afghans were involved in terrorist attacks in various areas of Pakistan.

He has emphasised that the property of illegal immigrants in this country will be confiscated after the deadline.

According to the Pakistani government, 4.4 million Afghans are currently living in Pakistan.