Tens of thousands of Afghan refugees in Islamabad, waiting to be resettled in third countries, have been ordered by the Pakistan government to move out of the capital by March 31.
The Pakistan government has told them to move to other regions in the country, primarily Rawalpindi, because of the embassies and refugee agencies based there.
The UN refugees and migration agencies have however expressed their concern over the decision, including Pakistan’s threats to deport thousands of Afghan refugees unless they are resettled quickly in the United States and elsewhere.
About 20,000 Afghans were approved for resettlement in the US but were left in limbo after President Donald Trump paused US refugee programs last month.
A spokesperson for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, Shafqat Ali Khan, recently said that nearly 80,000 Afghan refugees had left Pakistan for other countries, and that about 40,000 who had applied for resettlement elsewhere were still in Pakistan.
Trump’s three-month suspension on taking in refugees took effect on January 27; the Trump administration has given no indication of whether resettlement will eventually resume.
Pakistan has forced hundreds of thousands of other Afghans — migrants who entered legally or otherwise, and even some who arrived in Pakistan for resettlement to Western countries — back to their home country because of rising tensions with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Pakistan accuses the IEA of harboring Pakistani militants who conduct cross-border attacks.
The Islamic Emirate has however repeatedly rejected the claims and says they will not allow any individual or group to use Afghanistan soil to plan or carry out attacks on another country.
