A woman who we will call Fatima fled with her family in December 2021. She had worked for an American non-profit organization in Kabul until the , when the
She is now based in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. And she is in trouble. Her Pakistani visa is days away from expiring, and the authorities are still processing her application to renew it.
“I am concerned about the renewal of my visa and if not renewed timely authorities would arrest me and my family for illegally residing in the country,” Fatima told DW.
Police, including female officers, conducted a raid on a building where Fatima lives, looking for undocumented Afghan refugees. She was not in the building at the time, but her brother ended up in custody.
“Later, we showed them our visa renewal application receipts and proof but police did not cooperate,” said Fatima, who is now hiding from the authorities.
Clock running out for refugees in Islamabad and Rawalpindi
In 2023, started who entered the country over the past 40 years. And while the authorities granted some leeway last year, Pakistan’s government has now set a March 31 deadline to expel foreign nationals residing in the country illegally, with search operations ongoing in January and February.
Afghan refugees living in Islamabad and the nearby city of Rawalpindi “have been verbally asked to leave Pakistan till 28th February,” Umer Gillani, a legal expert and rights activist, told DW.
Moniza Kakar, a lawyer working for refugees advocacy in Pakistan, told DW there was “uncertainty and fear” among the Afghani nationals in the area.
“Since the start of this year, over 1,000 Afghans have been detained in Islamabad, and more than 18,000 have been forced to leave Islamabad and Rawalpindi because of government orders,” she said.
‘We’ve worked with the Americans for years’
Amin, 28, is from Kabul. She has spent years collaborating with the United States in the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan, before she too had to flee across the Pakistani border.
She says she was just days away from being evacuated to America but this was put on hold last month with
Nearly 20,000 Afghans are presently waiting in Pakistan for approval to resettle in the US through an American government program.
“We’ve worked with the Americans for years, we helped and supported them in Afghanistan, we have given them a part of our lives and they have to support us so that we can live peacefully,” Amin told DW.
Kabul and Islamabad row amid rising crackdown
Over the last three years, Pakistan’s relationship with its neighboring Afghanistan has deteriorated.
Islamabad holds the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan responsible for their inability to , a militant group that formed in 2007 and has conducted numerous attacks on Pakistani security forces.
As cross-border tensions with the Taliban regime escalate, amid reports of purported intimidation and arrests. The UN special rapporteur has expressed his worries, stating that Afghans in the area deserve more humane treatment.
Activist Gilani says millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan are being used as “hostages to build pressure whenever there is tension between the two countries.”
Last week, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry dismissed claims made by the Afghan chargé d’affaires regarding the mistreatment of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, labelling these allegations as “misplaced” and urging Kabul to facilitate the smooth repatriation of Afghan citizens.
Forced to move after decades in Pakistan
Pakistan has accommodated hundreds of thousands of refugees from its neighboring country, a situation resulting from decades of regional instability. Afghans who arrived in Pakistan following the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021 have been relying on visa renewals to stay in the country, a procedure that is costly, uncertain, and often subject to significant delays.
“The stories of refugees are devastating. Families who have lived in Pakistan for years, even decades, are now being uprooted due to tensions between the two countries. Children, women, and men who have already suffered so much are being treated as if they don’t matter. This is not just a refugee crisis, it’s a humanitarian crisis,” remarked Kakar.
UN says Pakistan has a tradition of protecting Afghans
UNHCR’s top representative in Pakistan, Philippa Candler, told DW that Pakistan already repatriated over 800,000 Afghan refugees between September 2023 and the end of last year.
“As of December 2024, Pakistan hosted over 2.8 million Afghans with 69% of refugees living outside refugee villages,” she said.
Candler acknowledged Pakistan’s generosity in hosting Afghan refugees for decades and the current “economic and security challenges” in Pakistan that drive the repatriation efforts.
At the same time, UNHCR was urging the Islamabad government to “see the situation of Afghans through a humanitarian perspective” and “continue its long-standing tradition of protecting vulnerable Afghans… regardless of their status.”
“It’s essential that we work hand-in-hand with both host countries and countries of origin to develop mechanisms that empower refugees to rebuild their lives in safety and dignity, including voluntary repatriation,” she said.
“We are calling for dialogue between the two countries, and for the refugee issue to be separated from political matters.”
Edited by: Darko Janjevic
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