Pakistani Police Conduct Night Raids To Identify Afghan Refugees, Transfer Them To Prison

Sources told Afghanistan International that Pakistani police officials have started house-to-house search operations of Afghan immigrants at night and transfer them to prison.

These operations are taking place after Pakistan has decided to deport Afghan refugees who do not have legal documentation.

An Afghan migrant in the city of Karachi told Afghanistan International that Pakistani police officials enter houses of Afghan immigrants in the middle of the night without prior notice.

According to him, the purpose of house-to-house search operations is to identify Afghan refugees.

Afghanistan International has also received a video of one such night raid by the Pakistani police at an Afghan immigrant’s house in Karachi.

Pakistan has announced that 1.7 million Afghan immigrants live in Pakistan without legal documentation.

Afghan immigrants in Pakistan said that the new policy of the Pakistani government towards refugees and immigrants has made life difficult for them.

The government of Pakistan has given all the immigrants it considers "illegal" until November 1 to leave the country.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said in a press conference in Islamabad last week that Afghans have been involved in terrorist attacks in various areas of Pakistan.

Pakistan's interior minister has emphasised that the property of illegal immigrants in the country will be confiscated after the deadline for departure is over.

International organisations and human rights groups have criticised the Taliban’s deportation of Afghans. United Nations human rights experts have urged Pakistan to refrain from deporting Afghans.

The Taliban has also asked Pakistan to reconsider its decision about Afghan refugees. Earlier, Mullah Yaqoob, Taliban’s Defence Minister, called Pakistan's treatment of Afghan immigrants as "barbaric" and said that the deportation of Afghan immigrants harms the relations between the two countries.

Despite these widespread criticisms, Pakistan has deported thousands of Afghans so far. In the latest case, the Ministry of Refugees of the Taliban announced on Saturday, the return of 6,450 Afghan refugees from Pakistan to Afghanistan.