انتقاد وزیر اعلی خیبرپختونخوا از اخراج مهاجران افغان

Suhail Afridi, the newly appointed Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has strongly criticized the rushed expulsion of Afghan refugees.

Pakistani media, quoting Mr. Afridi, reported that so far 800,000 Afghan refugees have returned from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while another 1.2 million remain in the province.

The Chief Minister stated: “The repatriation process is being accelerated, but no refugee should be forcibly expelled. We will return them with dignity because they have spent many years here and deserve to be treated with respect.”

Muzzammil Aslam, Senior Advisor to the Chief Minister, said: “We made our position clear that the majority of the refugees are in our province, numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Your policy is a federal one and is being implemented, but you cannot send them back overnight. The land they are residing on belongs both to the provincial and federal governments.”

Although Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghan refugees for over four decades, these refugees now face a new wave of hardship and pressure, making their daily lives more difficult than ever.

Shabana, an Afghan refugee in Pakistan, said: “There is immense pressure from the government and police on the refugees. They are forcibly arrested, police raid their homes, or shut down their shops to compel them to leave Pakistan.”

Malik Awwal Shinwari, another Afghan refugee, said: “There are Afghans who hold UN refugee cards, yet the Pakistani government does not recognize them and now considers them illegal. Even those with these cards are facing serious challenges.”

Meanwhile, on Sunday (October 19), the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center distributed aid to two thousand Afghan returnees from neighboring countries.

Ebrahim Fazli, an administrative official at one of the aid organizations, said: “In coordination with the King Salman Foundation, we brought two thousand food packages to the Loya Baba Jan camp to be distributed to returnees from neighboring countries, in collaboration with relevant officials of the Islamic Emirate.”

However, Afghan returnees at a refugee camp in Kabul have called for more substantial and long-term assistance.

Awaz, a returnee from Iran, said: “We are thankful for this aid, but we have no land and no homes. We need more support to build homes for ourselves.”

Ahmadullah, another returnee from Pakistan, told TOLOnews: “Winter is coming, and we have no shelter. Even when we go to Kunduz, we can’t find a place to rent. We need support with housing.”

According to statistics provided by the Administrative Deputy of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, around three million Afghan refugees have returned from neighboring countries in recent years.