Forced Repatriation of Afghan Refugees by Pakistan

The tide of refugee crisis has been on rise in the 21^st century. The ongoing wars in the Middle East, dictatorial regimes in North Africa, decades long war in Afghanistan, ethnic conflicts in Myanmar resulted in forcible displacement of millions of hapless individuals from their native countries. While the exodus of refugees to Europe, fleeing of Rohingya Muslims have been widely debated, forced migration of Afghan refugees is hardly discerned. Termed as the “worst migration crisis since World War II” in Europe, refugee crisis is now included under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda of the UN.

Tormented by eternal conflicts, people from Afghanistan have been fleeing to safer havens for the past three decades. Afghanistan is indeed one of the largest producer of refugees. Ever since the Afghan revolution of 1978 followed by Soviet invasion in 1979, civil war in 1990 and oppressive Taliban regime millions of Afghans began migrating to various countries. In the past thirty years, over 2.4 million Afghan refugees crossed over to Pakistan and mostly settled in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan provinces (1.4 million are registered refugees). But now the unprecedented return of these refugees overwhelms Afghanistan.

Ever since Peshawar School attacks by Pakistan Taliban in December 2014, Pakistan has renewed it campaign of humiliation and harassment towards Afghan refugees. They were literally hounded to leave Pakistan. In the first six weeks after the attack around 33,000 refugees were forced to migrate. From Feb 2015, Pakistan authorities began raiding houses of Afghan refugees and steadily mounting pressure to leave the country. Refugees as a last resort began bribing Pakistan Officials to defer repatriations. But now refugees having run out of money, decided to leave the country rather than face increasing hostility and extortion of Pakistan security forces.

As per official records of the manned Tokhram Gate exit, the average number of returnees which was thousand per day in 2015 increased to four to five thousand. As per, UN’s emergency aid coordination body OCHA, around 538,100 Afghans returned home. Border crossings have increased ever since Pakistan announced deadline of March 31^st 2017 for deportation. Pakistan’s contemptible crackdown on Afghans has come under severe criticism. In 2002 Pakistan signed for a voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Afghanistan. But it was never duty bound and began forcibly expelling refugee ever since. Amidst growing incidents of extortion, harassment, and intimidation Afghan refugees are forced to return.

Incidentally, most refugees in thirties born in Pakistan or have migrated when they were too young had made Pakistan their motherland. The ordeal of these desolate refugees back into their country in war for the past 15 years is going to be disastrous. With war becoming increasingly menacing in Afghanistan and Taliban controlling over dozen provinces, the conditions in Afghanistan have steadily deteriorated. Now it is burdened by the baffling internal displacement where people from the Taliban controlled cities and towns are moving into hinterlands. Thus, as many as 300,000 internally displaced Afghans have become refugees in their own country. With the arrest of Sharbat Gula, National Geographic cover page fame, now aged 44 in Peshawar on November 9^th, the widespread crackdown of Pakistan has come to limelight. Gula aged 12, with her piercing green eyes symbolized the plight of Afghan refugees who fled to Pakistan during the Soviet War. She was arrested for holding a fake Pakistan identity card and was deported to Afghanistan with her four children.

Afghans embroiled by the unrelenting war, selling off their assets began knocking the doors of Europe for asylum. Afghans are the second largest asylum seekers in Europe. The continent inundated by the exodus of refugees from Syria began tightening controls. Germany which has sheltered largest numbers of refugees indicated that asylum seekers from Afghanistan which largely included the urban middle class must go back to their country and help in nation building. They were denied any asylum. Moreover, European Union firmly believed that Syria is in war zone but didn’t consider Afghanistan being in war zone despite substantial increase in civilian casualties and deteriorating security situation. EU subsequently evolved a policy that bestowed asylum status to Syrians Only. At a conference in Brussels attended by 70 donor countries in October, EU pledged $15.2 billion towards reconstruction of Afghanistan until 2020 apart from the $5billion a year for military. In return Afghanistan, must take back the 200,000 asylum seekers who thronged Europe. While both parties indicated that the offer of funding is not subject to Afghanistan accepting back the refugees EU’s persistence indicates otherwise.

Iran which is home to over 1 million Afghan refugees is now coercing them to return. While the Afghan Hazaras who are Shia Muslims are recruited to fight their wars in Middle East, the rest are persuaded to go back.  Able-bodied, young, Afghans are lured to join Iranian forces with an offer of Iranian citizenship. Desperate Afghan refugees are quickly grabbing this offer as prospects of employment and better living conditions back home are bleak. Iran is thus using the refugees as Expendable soldiers for hegemony wars.

Sadly, forced deportation of Afghan refugees is hardly evincing any international opprobrium. Three decades of war has reduced Afghanistan to shambles. Propitious developments in 2001 offered some cheer. But rampant corruption, political infighting pushed the nation into abyss. Further, resurgence of Taliban vanquished all hopes to revival for Afghanistan.  

Issues of Contention

While Pakistan claims that Afghans are returning voluntarily, ground picture indicates otherwise. Pakistan’s forced expulsions have deeper connotations and reflects growing fissures between both countries. After the Peshawar attacks in December 2014, Pakistan grew more suspicious and sought regulation of goods and men through border crossings. New Afghan President Ashraf Ghani made every attempt to forge closer ties with Pakistan. Through the Quadrilateral Coordination Group, Pakistan promised to facilitate peace talks between Taliban and Afghan government and pledged to work towards restoring peace in Afghanistan. On the contrary, emboldened by the support from Pakistan deep state, Taliban began to launch massive offensive on Afghanistan. Owing to breach of trust, bilateral relations strained. By April 2016 Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to regulate the movement whereby Afghans were mandated to produce authorized travel documents to cross the mountainous Torkham exit. Later Afghans residing in Torkham area were ordered to evacuate. Over 300 families were forced to leave and their houses were bulldozed. In May, with the death of Mullah Mansour, chief of Afghan Taliban by the US in a drone attack, the relations between the countries touched a new low. Afghanistan welcomed this development, and questioned the intent of Pakistan for sheltering anti-Afghan elements. Afghanistan subsequently called off the peace talks with Taliban mediated Pakistan and denounced its duplicity. Irked Pakistan began to impose restrictions on entry of Afghan nationals through Torkham Gate. Meanwhile, Islamabad started building barbed fencing at the Torkham crossing despite Afghani objections. Tensions between the countries escalated leading to exchange of firing. Harassment of Afghans refugee increased post-Torkham Gate border skirmishes.

During the same period, India has reached out to Afghanistan and both countries revived the traditional linkages by signing the Trilateral Transit Agreement of the Chabahar port, India built a Parliament Complex in Kabul, dedicated Salma dam, pledged economic aid of $1 billion, supplied refurbished battle tanks and helicopters. Afghanistan deepened strategic partnership with India and firmly supported New Delhi’s isolate Pakistan doctrine by deciding not to participate in SAARC Summit. Pakistan in a bid to exert pressure on Afghan government from honing bilateral ties with India intensified its attempts to evict Afghan refugees. Under the garb of counter terrorism operations, Pakistan resorted to arbitrary arrests, detention, harassment, and conducted police raids on Afghan refugees. Unarguably while Afghan refugees have changed the political, economic, cultural, societal contour of Pakistan its deliberate expulsions might eventually lead to a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Paradoxically while Pakistan is keen on deporting Afghan refugees it rather tight-lipped on the expulsion of Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban militant organization that operates from Baluchistan.

With winter approaching UN is making pleas to donors for assistance. UNCHR announced that its facilitated repatriation program which provides $400 for every refugee as a going-home package has paused its cash grants from November 1^st to March 1^st.  Pakistan has set a deadline of March 31^st for Afghan refugees to leave. With deadline, so close, all the registered refugees with valid proof of residence would thus be left with no choice but to leave Pakistan with the cash in grants of UN.

While registered refugees have some reprieve, the situation of 1 million undocumented refugees is grievous. After 2007, Pakistan stopped registering depriving them of the proof of residency cards. These undocumented refugees are not eligible for cash grants. They are vulnerable to abuse and are more likely leave Pakistan under pressure. While the deportations have come down in November due to winter, the forced migration may invite severe backlash. Pakistan must seriously reconsider its approach towards Afghan refugees else the brewing humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan may spill over.

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