Afghan refugees in Pakistan concerned over their continued detentions

Afghan refugees in Pakistan have expressed concern over continued detentions by the country’s police, Tolo News reported. Tolo News is an Afghan news channel broadcasting from Kabul.

They said the Pakistani police asks them for bribes after arresting them. Moreover, the detentions underscored the strained relations between the two neighbours. An Afghan refugee in Pakistan said, “The refugees who lack visas in Pakistan are being detained by the police. Some of these refugees have been returned to Afghanistan and some are being released based on money.”

The Afghan refugee said, “In recent times, the Pakistan police have been treating the Afghan refugees with improper conduct and they even search the houses of the people.” Taliban’s consul in Karachi, Abdul Jabar Takhari, said that more than 40 Afghan refugees have been released from prisons in the Sindh province of Pakistan.

Takhari said that the refugees have been arrested due to the lack of legal documents. “Around 44 Afghans were released from various prisons in Sindh province of Pakistan and they have been taken to the country via Chaman,” he said, as per Tolo News.

This comes as refugee rights activists called on the Taliban to implement a policy supporting Afghan refugees abroad. “The Afghan refugees are living in critical conditions in Pakistan and they are facing an uncertain destiny and are in danger,” said Mohammad Khan Talibi, a refugee’s rights activist, as per Tolo News.

As per statistics of the Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MRR), around 3 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, nearly 3 million in Iran and more than 1 million other Afghan refugees are settled in other world countries.