Pakistani Police Threatened Afghan Women With Sexual Assault, Reports HRW

Several Afghan immigrant women have told Human Rights Watch (HRW) that the Pakistani police had sometimes sexually harassed some Afghan women and girls and threatened them with sexual assault.

The organisation said that Pakistani authorities have committed widespread abuses against Afghan migrants.

Recently, the Taliban consulate in Karachi reported the kidnapping of an Afghan immigrant girl by a "Pakistani military member".

HRW reported that Pakistani police and other authorities, alongside conducting mass arrests and confiscating the property and assets of Afghan immigrants, also destroyed the identity documents of thousands of Afghan migrants. The organisation added that Pakistani authorities are compelling them to return to Afghanistan through widespread abuses against Afghan immigrants.

On Tuesday, this human rights organisation wrote that since mid-September 2023, Pakistani authorities have deported over 400,000 Afghan migrants.

Elaine Pearson, HRW Asia Director, said, “Pakistani officials have created a coercive environment for Afghans to force them to return to life-threatening conditions in Afghanistan.”

She urged the Pakistani authorities to cease the mistreatment of immigrants and provide Afghans who are at risk the opportunity to stay in Pakistan.

Human rights activists and journalists reported that the Pakistani government's mistreatment was part of a campaign to force Afghan migrants to leave the country. They say that the police have beaten, threatened, and detained Afghan immigrants.

HRW stated that the Pakistani police also demanded bribes and confiscated jewellery, livestock and other property and destroyed their houses with bulldozers.

The organisation stated that among those deported or compelled to leave Pakistan are Afghans who were born in Pakistan and have never resided in Afghanistan.

HRW also said that Afghans, including women and girls, human rights defenders, journalists and former government employees who fled following the takeover power by Taliban, are at risk of persecution.

According to reports, Pakistani officials have allegedly compelled Afghans waiting for resettlement in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries, who couldn't renew their visas, to pay an exit fee of USD 830.

According to HRW, the forced deportations of Afghan refugees violate Pakistan's obligations as a party to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and under the customary international law principle of nonrefoulment.

Elaine Pearson urged countries that have promised to resettling Afghans at risk to expedite the processes while pressuring on Pakistan to fulfil its human rights obligations.