Pakistan currently has over 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees, with estimates of the community’s total population exceeding 3.7 million, including many without valid visas. These “unregistered,” i.e. illegal, migrants are the latest target of Pakistan’s drive to curtail cross-border terrorism and smuggling. Earlier this week, caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti announced all illegally residing foreigners in Pakistan had until Nov. 1 to leave voluntarily or risk deportation and the confiscation of their assets. He further alleged that of 24 suicide attacks in Pakistan thus far this year, 14 had the involvement of Afghan nationals, highlighting the security aspect of the current crackdown.
Authorities maintain the ongoing crackdown is necessary to stop the illegal movement of people across its western border—regardless of how difficult a task it appears. The military had earlier claimed this would be achieved via the fence constructed along the Pak-Afghan border; it was not. Raising concerns among the refugee population, however, is the expiration of their residency cards—last extended by two years in 2021—rendering them “illegal” despite their “official” status as refugees. Over the past few months, crackdowns against Afghan refugees have intensified to protests from both the Afghan Taliban and human rights organizations. “The Government of Pakistan must urgently stop arbitrarily arresting and harassing Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers, many of whom are fleeing persecution by the Taliban,” Amnesty International said in a statement that was largely ignored.
The Taliban, meanwhile, have long rejected the Durand Line—the legal border between Pakistan and Afghanistan under international law—and residents on both sides of the border often cross it without giving a care for visas. This has rendered it a “soft” border that discriminates against Pakistanis and Afghans not residing along it, as they do not have access to “easement rights” accorded to locals. Bugti has maintained that this practice, popularly known as a Tazkirah, would also come to a halt and no Afghan without a valid visa would be permitted entry to Pakistan.
Pakistan must ensure the protection of Afghan refugees, but it is undeniable that the state must also enforce its writ by ensuring strict border controls. This will not be easy to implement. But if the state is genuinely committed to reviving the national economy and curbing cross-border terrorism, it is a necessary first step to achieving its goals.