KABUL (SW) – Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, deputy defense minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, has said authorities in Pakistan should stop slandering Afghan refugees in that country.
After Sarfraz Bugti, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Interim Government of Pakistan, said that Afghan citizens are involved in the chaotic security situation of that country and set a one-month deadline for the departure of Afghan immigrants from Pakistan, now the Islamic Emirate officials say that putting pressure on immigrants is not the solution and has negative consequences.
On Thursday, at the graduation party of the 14th round of police academy students in Kabul, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the political deputy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Pakistan should stop harassing the refugees. He added: “The situation that is going with the immigrants these days in Pakistan is not acceptable to us. Efforts should be made in international forums so that Pakistan observes modesty of speech. Unwarranted and unfair accusations against the neighbor, instead of solving the problems, make the situation worse. Punishing immigrants does not solve the problem, but that makes it worse.”
Mr. Stankzai urged Afghan immigrants to return to Afghanistan for a dignified life.
Meanwhile, Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, also reacting to the detention and torture of Afghan immigrants in Pakistan, has said that this behavior of Pakistan will have serious negative consequences. He added: “These issues have a negative effect on the relations between the two countries and the two peoples, and the consequences should be taken seriously. They should change the current situation, Afghan immigrants were not involved in any incident.”
Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid, Acting Minister of National Defense, also strongly condemned Pakistan’s treatment of Afghan immigrants at the graduation party of the 14th round of police academy students and asked international organizations to stop Pakistan’s cruel behavior towards Afghan immigrants.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Refugees and Returnees, in the last 20 days, nearly 23,000 Afghan migrants have been forcibly deported from Pakistan through Torkham and Spinboldak crossings.
The intensification of pressure on Afghan immigrants, the recent arrests and the setting of a one-month deadline for their departure from Pakistan have also been met with the reaction of Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
Nadia Rahman, Amnesty International’s acting deputy regional director for research in South Asia, said in a statement published on the organization’s website that the process of arresting Afghan immigrants must be stopped immediately.
He added: “Afghans in Pakistan have a very precarious life in the situation where they have to go through difficult processes to register as refugees in Pakistan, or they are stuck in long processes waiting to be transferred to another country. Forced return to Afghanistan can put them in serious danger.”
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, by issuing a statement on the X, called the decision of the Pakistani government to deport migrants on the suspicion of their involvement in Pakistan’s insecurity unacceptable and wrong.
On the other hand, a number of political experts say that the Islamic Emirate should not just make statements, there is a need for practical actions.
Political expert Shaker Yaqoubi says that in order to improve the situation between the two countries, the caretaker government of Islamic Emirate should assure Pakistan that members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are not present in Afghanistan.
He adds: “The Islamic Emirate has not taken the pressure on the migrants seriously and has not taken an approach that can reduce the pressure on the migrants. Until Afghanistan assures Pakistan of the absence of TTP, Pakistan will continue its political and economic pressures.”
It should be mentioned that a few days ago, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Interim Government of Pakistan said in a press conference that Afghans were involved in 14 attacks in Pakistan and that Afghan immigrants should leave Pakistan by November 1 of this year.
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