- As announced, Pakistan has started bringing foreigners without valid documents to collection camps for expulsion from November.
- Fearing an impending mass deportation from Pakistan, more and more Afghan refugees are crowding the border crossings between the two countries.
- The main access roads are full of trucks transporting families and their belongings to the crossings.
After the Islamist Taliban came to power two years ago, tens of thousands of Afghans fled to Pakistan. The authorities now want to deport them. But many no longer have a home.
Thousands of people are now crowding the northwestern Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The radical Islamic Taliban ruling Afghanistan said that transit camps had been set up to deal with the sudden influx. But aid organizations report catastrophic and chaotic conditions.
According to Pakistani authorities, 128,000 Afghans have already left the country via the Torkham border crossing since the expulsion order was issued. More crossed the border at Chaman in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. Pakistani authorities have denied media access to the Torkham border crossing since Tuesday.
Aid agencies estimate that the number of people arriving in Torkham has increased from 300 per day to 9,000 to 10,000 per day since Pakistan’s announcement. The situation for people is becoming more and more dramatic. Aid teams on the Afghan side report chaotic and desperate scenes among those who have returned, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Danish Refugee Council and the International Rescue Committee said in a joint statement. The federal government has also expressed concern about the development because the already difficult humanitarian situation in Afghanistan will worsen as winter approaches.
The Pakistani government rejects criticism from the United Nations (UNO), Western states and human rights groups. According to the government in Islamabad, the background to the expulsion plans is numerous attacks in Pakistan. The government said 14 of the 24 suicide attacks this year were carried out by Afghans.