Tensions between the two neighbouring South Asian nations have been high for several months. Recently, the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan has come to light, with Islamabad ordering nearly 1.7 million illegal Afghan refugees to leave the country by November 2023. Foreign policy experts believe that Pakistan’s diplomatic relations with the Taliban-led Government in Afghanistan could take a new turn due to this. However, it is still not clear how the Pakistani authorities could ensure the undocumented immigrants leave or how they could identify them.

The Government of Pakistan issued a statement on October 4, 2023, stressing that if those living illegally in Pakistan do not voluntarily leave within the stipulated time frame, then they would be forcibly returned to their country. Mir Sarfraz Bugti, the caretaker Minister for Interior, Overseas Pakistanis and Narcotics Control of Pakistan, said: “We have given them a November 1 deadline. If they do not go, … then all the law enforcement agencies in the provinces or Federal Government will be utilised to deport them.”

Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, the Mujahideens (Muslims who fight on behalf of the faith or their community), mainly Pashtun refugees, have been living in Pakistan. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they fought against the Soviet troops after setting up their bases in Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans also fled to neighbouring Pakistan in an attempt to save their lives after the beginning of the US military campaign (against the Taliban) in Afghanistan two decades ago. These undocumented migrants are staying mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan Provinces near the Pak-Afghan border.

A section of Pakistani media has reported that Islamabad has decided to send back illegal Afghan immigrants mainly for two reasons: the ongoing economic crisis and security-related issues. The Pakistani Army has alleged that a section of Afghan nationals has direct links with the Pashtun insurgent group, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). They declared war against Pakistan in the third week of November 2022 after peace talks between the TTP and Islamabad collapsed. The local media have claimed that the Afghan Taliban directly backs the TPP. The concerned authorities in Islamabad have strong evidence of Afghan refugees’ involvement in several suicide bombings taken place in recent times.

Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, Bugti said: “There are no two opinions that we are attacked from within Afghanistan and Afghan nationals are involved in attacks on us. We have evidence.” He claimed that 14 of 24 suicide bombings in Pakistan were carried out by Afghan nationals in 2023. Meanwhile, the minister announced that Pakistan would allow entry only to Afghans with valid passports and visas from November 1, 2023.

Incidentally, Afghanistan has long claimed parts of the Pashtun-majority areas of Pakistani Provinces of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan as its own. Even the Taliban wants to take control of these two provinces of Pakistan. Pakistan decided to erect barbed wire along its 2,700km-long border with Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power in Kabul (for the second time after two decades) on August 15, 2022. However, Islamabad failed to work accordingly due to strong opposition by the Taliban rulers in Kabul.

As expected, the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad has called Pakistan’s announcement harassment, stating: “Despite the repeated promises of the Pakistani authorities, the arrest and harassment of Afghan refugees by the Police in Pakistan continues.” Fazal Rehman, a 57-year-old Afghan fruit seller in the northwestern city of Peshawar, has said that he has been living in Pakistan for the last three decades. His children have never visited Afghanistan. According to Rehman, he has never felt the need to register with the Pakistani authorities. “We request the Pakistani Government not to expel us in such a hasty way and allow us either to live here peacefully, or we should be given at least six months to one year time to go back,” the fruit seller told the press.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das