CAUGHT BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES
Shayaan is among thousands of cross-border Pashtun families who have found themselves caught in the worsening ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistani authorities have intensified deportations under the Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan first announced in 2023, targeting undocumented and illegal Afghan nationals.
In the latest wave of forced deportations, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry ordered law enforcement agencies to step up arrests of undocumented Afghan migrants from July 10.
United Nations data showed 6,195 Afghans returned from Pakistan from Jul 5 to 11 alone, up by around a third from the previous week.
According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 2.5 million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan since the repatriation campaign began in 2023.
Pakistan remains home to more than a million Afghans, according to the UN.
Some cross-border families in Pakistan have turned to legal recourse in hopes of remaining together, though experts say success has been limited.
“Although courts in Pakistan do accept these petitions, so far we have seen that they just adjourn the hearings without giving a clear-cut verdict,” said Aatif Afzal, project director for Society for Human Rights and Prisoners Aid (SHARP).
The lack of a definitive court ruling has left his clients without “legal relief”, and continued uncertainty over their future in Pakistan.
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