Islamabad [Pakistan], November 7 (ANI): As Pakistan continues to forcefully expel Afghan refugees, it has been negatively impacting the Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship by putting it at stake as the Taliban government condemned Pakistan’s move, reported The Express Tribune.
The Taliban government is not happy with Islamabad and several leaders, including the interim prime minister, defence and interior ministers have publicly criticised Pakistan for evicting thousands of Afghans.
Pakistan’s caretaker government announced October 31 as the deadline for Afghan refugees to leave the country. The deadline called for nearly 2 million Afghan refugees to leave Pakistan or face forced deportation.
Pakistan although stressed that its decision was only targeted to send back those having no legal documents, however, the Taliban continues to accuse Islamabad of harassing the refugees, according to The Express Tribune.
Moreover, Kabul indicated that Islamabad’s decision might be a pressure tactic on the issue of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Recently, Afghan Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, asked Pakistan in a video message, to not punish Afghan refugees if it had any issue with the Kabul administration.
Haqqani further called the Pakistani decision un-Islamic and added that Islamabad could not blame Afghanistan for its own problems.
Further warning Pakistan, Defence Minister Mullah Yaqub said that such a decision would have consequences for Pakistan, The Express Tribune reported.
Whereas, Pakistan officials replied to the statement and said that Pakistan’s decision had nothing to do with the TTP’s issue.
“I can tell you with full authority that this has no linkages with the TTP issue,” a senior government official said.
“There is a perception that our decision is to put pressure on the Afghan government. That’s not true,” the official added. The official further said that the decision to send back all foreigners residing in the country illegally was taken six months ago.
“We are a country facing economic challenges. We can’t shoulder the burden of illegal migrants,” the official explained.
Further criticising the Taliban’s statement, a Foreign Office official said, “We also have our list of issues but we always raise those through diplomatic channels. If the Afghan government has any issue they should speak to us instead of public statements.”
Pakistan and Afghanistan’s relationship was already on the edge over the presence of TTP sanctuaries across the border, The Express Tribune reported.
Adding to this, the ongoing deportation of Afghan refugees has further affected the bilateral relationship between the two countries.
The Pakistan official also said that they were not bothering those who have Proof of Residence (POR) or Afghan Citizenship Card (ACC).
“But those who don’t even have any identity how can we allow them to stay? No country tolerates illegal migrants,” the official said.
Pakistan’s decision has sparked global criticisms with many human rights organizations calling on Islamabad to reverse the planned action, according to TOLO News.
However, the Pakistan official rejected the criticism by these organizations and the Western countries.
“They should first implement what they preach,” the official said, reported The Express Tribune.
“They don’t even rescue illegal migrants. Let me put it bluntly they let illegal migrants drown,” the official said, referring to certain incidents where boat-riding migrants sank off the coasts in Europe.
Moreover, Pakistan expects the repatriation process of an estimated 1.7 million Afghan migrants to be completed in a year, reported The Express Tribune. (ANI)
