Assets Worth $4Bn of Afghans Has Been Confiscated, Says Pak-Afg Joint Chamber of Commerce

On Friday, Mullah Hassan Akhund reacted to the mass deportation of Afghan immigrants from Pakistan and asked the Pakistani government to stop putting pressure on the immigrants.

In a video clip published by the Taliban on X social media platform, the prime minister of the group read a strong statement against the new decision of the Pakistani government.

In this video clip, Mullah Hassan Akhund asks the Pakistani officials, “Who gave you the right to enter the homes of immigrants, humiliate them, and take their money from their pockets?”

In the speech, he asks, "Who are you to confiscate [immigrants'] property and assets?"

According to the Taliban’s prime minister, if Pakistani officials have problems with the government of the group, they should solve their problems through understanding and dialogue. In his speech, he emphatically invited the Pakistani officials to a dialogue to solve the problems.

This senior Taliban official said that if the Pakistani government claims that it is deporting "illegal immigrants", then in which law is there a place for destroying their houses, humiliating them, and confiscating their property.

He stressed, “No immigrant's life, property, and honour are safe now."

Mullah Hassan Akhund warned the Pakistani officials to think about their future and how "we will live together" with such behaviour.

The Taliban’s Prime Minister, who rarely appears in the media and usually does not take a public stance on political issues, has responded to Islamabad’s claim about the involvement of Afghans in Pakistan's recent instability.

Rejecting the claim, Mullah Hassan Akhund said that Afghans have lived in Pakistan for the past 45 years without creating any security challenges for Islamabad.

As the November 1 deadline of the Pakistani government for migrants to leave the country ended, Islamabad has put unprecedented pressure on the Afghan immigrant population in the country.

In the past few days, numerous reports of mistreatment, detention, and forced deportation of Afghan immigrants have been published in the media.

Pakistani officials said that only 19,744 Afghans returned to Afghanistan through the Torkham border on Thursday. Meanwhile, 147,944 Afghans returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan in the last month.

Pakistani officials said that the involvement of Afghan immigrants in attacks and cooperation with Islamist militants has weakened the country's security.

On Friday, Abdul Nasir Khan, deputy commissioner of Khyber district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said, “Pakistan has opened 12 more border centres to speed up the repatriation of tens of thousands of Afghan citizens without residency documents, ignoring calls from refugee and human rights groups to reconsider the mass deportation programme.

Khan added that the facilities at the Torkham border crossing have been tripled to allow more Afghan immigrants to return to their country.

On November 1, the Pakistani government's one-month deadline for the voluntary return of Afghan refugees to their country ended, and the country intensified the process of arrest and forced deportation of these migrants.

Pakistani officials said that the main reason for the expulsion of Afghan refugees is the involvement of several Afghan immigrants in attacks by extremist Islamist militants in Pakistan, which has weakened the country's security. The Taliban have previously denied Islamabad’s claim.

Taliban officials in Kabul said that Pakistan's security is an internal problem and asked Islamabad to reconsider its decision.

Many Afghans sought refuge in different countries of the world, especially two neighbouring countries, Iran and Pakistan, in more than four decades of conflicts in Afghanistan.

According to the reports, with the return of the Taliban to power, more than 600,000 people have fled to Pakistan due to the Taliban's policies against human rights, especially women's rights.

Pakistani officials said that only 19,744 Afghans returned to Afghanistan through the Torkham border on Thursday. Meanwhile, 147,944 Afghans returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan in the last month.

Pakistani officials have said they will extend the deadline for Afghan patients and those who cannot travel from the country.

In an audio tape released by the Taliban, Mullah Yaqoob called the government of Pakistan a "regime".

In this six-and-a-half-minute audio file that was released on Friday, Yaqoob speaks about various aspects of the mass deportation of Afghan immigrants from Pakistan.

He called Pakistan's decision to deport Afghan immigrants a unilateral decision that is unacceptable to the Taliban government and said, "This is a cruel decision that was imposed on Afghans and has caused them problems."

In another part of his speech, the Taliban’s Defence Minister urged Pakistan not to oppress Afghans, take their personal property, or confiscate their properties.

Mullah Yaqoob stressed that Pakistan cannot confiscate the property of immigrants based on any law or principle.

The Taliban's defence minister emphasised on the group's commitment to prevent the confiscation of assets and properties of Afghan immigrants, vowing not to allow anyone to "steal the properties of our Afghan brothers" under any circumstances.

It seems that the fate of the properties and assets of Afghan immigrants following their expulsion from Pakistan is one of the disputed issues between the Pakistani government and the Taliban.

In a statement on Thursday, the Taliban embassy in Islamabad also announced that the group's ambassador had a meeting with the interior minister of the interim government of Pakistan and discussed the transfer of assets of Afghan refugees.

The details of these talks are not yet clear.

The organisation added that these immigrants returned to their country "voluntarily".

According to Pakistani officials, these immigrants included 1,453 families.

The Pakistani government had given immigrants without legal documentation a deadline until November 1 to leave the country.

Following the expiration of this deadline, Pakistan has started the process of arresting "illegal" immigrants.

According to Pakistani officials, about 1.7 million Afghan individuals are included among these immigrants.

Human rights organisations have expressed concern over the decision of the expulsion of Afghan refugees by Pakistan.

According to sources, Fakouri had been detained on Tuesday, October 31, in Herat city when he was returning home.

The Taliban has not yet explained the reason for the detention of this Herat city government employee.

Sources said that in recent months Fakuri had performed plays criticising the Taliban’s policies in Herat.

One of his plays had been performed during Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban’s spokesperson’s visit to Herat in the summer.

According to local sources, Fakuri had organised a play about the consequences of banning girls' education at the ceremony attended by the Taliban spokesperson.