Amnesty International Pakistan to stop deporting Afghan refugees
Amnesty International has urged Pakistan to halt the forced deportation of Afghan migrants and refugees who have sought refuge in the country out of fear of the Taliban.
Amnesty International, citing UNHCR statistics, states that currently 37 million Afghans are living in Pakistan, including around 600,000 who are human rights defenders, journalists, women activists, and individuals who fled Afghanistan since August 2021 due to fear of Taliban reprisals.
The organization has said that at least 14 million Afghans are at risk of forced deportation.
Since November last year, the interim government of Pakistan has initiated a program to forcibly deport over a million Afghans without legal documentation from the country, with some reportedly being returned through arbitrary and unlawful detentions. Families have been separated, individuals sent to newly established detention centers, and deprived of access to family, lawyers, and media, according to Amnesty International.
