Global Courant
On October 3, Pakistan’s interim government announced it was giving “illegal immigrants” 28 days to leave the country. Those who do not will be forcibly deported from the country from November 1.
This unprecedented measure specifically targets the 1.73 million Afghans who have fled to Pakistan and have failed to obtain formal refugee status.
The announcement was made after the Pakistani government claimed that 14 of the 24 suicide bombings this year were carried out by individuals with Afghan citizenship. It has not yet provided any evidence to support this claim.
The threat of deportation has been condemned by several international organizations and governments.
I, and many other Afghans, can testify to the warm hospitality that Pakistan has shown the Afghan people over the years. Afghans have had significantly better opportunities to study, live and work in Pakistan compared to other countries in the region.
This long history of friendship must not be poisoned by short-sighted and reactionary decisions. The treatment of Afghan refugees has already deteriorated significantly in Pakistan in recent years as they are continually blamed for security shortcomings in the country.
In recent years, the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has increased its attacks on security personnel and civilians. Pakistan’s security apparatus and army have struggled to contain their terrorist activities, and government officials have repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of harboring the group.
It is important to put these developments in context. Pakistan played a key role in creating and bringing to power the Afghan Taliban in the 1990s. During the twenty-year American occupation of Afghanistan, the Pakistani establishment sheltered the group. The TTP is a byproduct of this relationship. The TTP leaders all trained and developed ties with Taliban leaders during their time in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
But the TTP was founded in Pakistan and has operated from the country for most of its existence. Even if you accept the claim that the Afghan Taliban today allows the TTP leadership to operate from eastern Afghanistan, let us not forget that the Afghan people did not elect the Taliban to rule them and they did not should be punished for their decisions.
Let us also not forget that the elected Pakistani government was among the first to congratulate the Taliban on taking over Kabul and that then Prime Minister Imran Khan even called it “breaking the chains of slavery”.
It is important to note that the Afghan Taliban has made concrete progress in the fight against terrorist groups, which is recognized by the United States, China, Russia and countries in Afghanistan’s immediate vicinity. It has systematically attacked cells of the Islamic State-Khorasan province, which claimed a deadly suicide bombing in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in July.
The government in Kabul has also made efforts to address Pakistan’s security concerns regarding the TTP. In 2022, the Taliban hosted negotiations between Pakistan and the TTP, which resulted in a five-month ceasefire. When the Pakistani army carried out airstrikes on Afghan territory in April last year, violating Afghanistan’s sovereignty and killing civilians, the Taliban government responded rather mildly, issuing a statement condemning the attacks as “atrocity.” a response that was quite unpopular among the population. Afghans.
Then in August, Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree banning cross-border attacks. In late September, Taliban government forces arrested about 200 TTP fighters on Afghan territory.
Against the backdrop of all these events, it is unfortunate that the Pakistani government has decided to ignore the potential for meaningful security cooperation and take a populist and inhumane decision to expel Afghans.
Pakistan is a nation that was created during the largest migration of people in modern history. The population knows what it means to look for a safe haven. They also know the trauma of collective punishment.
As Pakistanis rise up to denounce Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians, they should not turn a blind eye and remain silent about the decision to expel an Afghan population almost as large as that of Gaza.
I call on our friends in Pakistan to appeal to their government and demand that they respect the fundamental rights of Afghan refugees to dignity and safety.
African-American poet Maya Angelou once said, “No one leaves their home unless their home is the mouth of a shark.” Pakistanis should not let those who need kindness most fall victim to an ill-conceived foreign policy. If this cruel act of deportation were carried out, it would negatively affect relations between the two countries for years to come.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.