Kabul, Nov 20 (IANS) More than 10,000 Afghan refugees were forcibly deported from Pakistan and Iran in a single day on Wednesday, a top Taliban official stated on Thursday.
Sharing the High Commission for Addressing Migrants’ Issues report, Taliban Deputy Spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat revealed that 1,763 Afghan families, comprising of 10,405 people, returned Afghanistan on Wednesday, the Pajhwok Afghan News reported.
Fitrat said that Afghan refugees returned from Pakistan through Spin Boldak in Kandahar, Bahramcha in Helmand, Islam Qala crossing in Herat, Pul-i-Abresham in Nimroz and the Torkham crossing in Nangarhar.
He stated that 2,222 Afghan refugee families, comprising 13,303 people, were taken to their respective home areas while 1,534 were given humanitarian assistance.
As many as 7,326 Afghan refugees were forcibly deported from Iran and Pakistan on Tuesday. Nearly 12,666 Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistan after being forcibly deported from Iran and Pakistan on Sunday.
Meanwhile, around 400 Afghan nationals including artists and their families have approached the Peshawar High Court, requesting the judge to issue orders for 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, the local media reported on Thursday.
Afghan nationals filed a joint petition in the court, seeking directives for 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 judgement of the high court announced on December 13, 2024, in cases of some other artists and transgender persons, requesting the court to announce verdict in line with that judgement.
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 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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