Kabul, Nov 23 (IANS) More than 11,000 Afghan refugees were forcibly deported from Iran and Pakistan in a single day, according to a Taliban official’s statement on Sunday, local media reported.
Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat shared the report from the High Commission for Addressing Migrants’ Issues on X. According to the report, 2,102 Afghan families, comprising 11,855 individuals, returned home on Saturday, Pajhwok Afghan News reported.
Afghan refugees entered Afghanistan through Pul-i-Abresham in Nimroz, Spin Boldak in Kandahar, Bahramcha in Helmand, Islam Qala crossing in Herat and the Torkham crossing in Nangarhar.
Fitrat further said that 2,287 Afghan refugees (13,246 people), who returned to Afghanistan, were taken to their respective home areas, while 1,760 were provided humanitarian assistance. About 1,060 SIM cards of telecommunication networks were given to Afghan returnees.
Earlier this week, around 400 Afghan nationals, including artists and their families have approached the Peshawar High Court, requesting the judge to issue orders for the government to halt their forced deportation to Afghanistan in accordance with the principle of non-refoulment, as they would be subjected to persecution in their country.
Afghan nationals filed a joint petition in the court, seeking directives for the government to allow their stay in Pakistan as refugees. The petitioners include Zakiya Dunya Ghazal and several other Afghan artists and their families, Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn reported.
The petitioners have referred to an earlier judgment of the high court announced on December 13, 2024, in cases of some other artists and transgender persons, requesting the court to announce a verdict in line with that judgment.
Pakistan’s Federal Interior Ministry, Federal Secretary of Cabinet Division, Directors General of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), Immigration and Passport and FIA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary and its Home Secretary have been named as respondents in the petition.
The petitioners contended that it was dangerous for artists and singers to live in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, as they had openly expressed opposition to activities like music concerts, etc. They claimed that they settled with their families in Peshawar after fleeing from Afghanistan. They stressed that Pakistan’s forced repatriation policy was against the existing United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) agreements and Pakistan’s own international commitments.
–IANS
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