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Rights watchdog calls on Pakistan to ‘immediately stop’ forced deportations of Afghan refugees

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday called on Pakistan to immediately stop forcing Afghan refugees to return home where they struggle to survive amid Afghanistan’s soaring unemployment, broken healthcare system, and dwindling foreign assistance.

In their latest report, HRW slammed Pakistan for having stepped up pressure on Afghan refugees and using “intensified abusive tactics” to get them to leave the country.

Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said:.“The Taliban (Islamic Emirate) authorities in Afghanistan should prevent any reprisals against returning Afghans and reverse their abusive policies against women and girls.”

The organization stated that the human rights situation in Afghanistan has continued to deteriorate over the past three years

On January 31, 2025, Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior announced that Afghans without official residence documents, along with holders of Afghan Citizen Cards, must leave the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi or face deportation. Afghans holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards must leave by June 30.

A previous wave of deportations and expulsions, from September 2023 through January 2024, drove over 800,000 Afghans – many born in Pakistan or living there for decades – to Afghanistan. Since November 2024, Pakistani authorities have renewed pressure to expel Afghans. More than 70 percent of those returning have been women and children, including girls of secondary school age and women who will no longer have access to education.

HRW stated that Pakistani police have raided houses, beat and arbitrarily detained people, and confiscated refugee documents, including residence permits.

They have demanded bribes to allow Afghans to remain in Pakistan. The United Nations reported that most Afghans who have returned to Afghanistan have cited fear of detention by Pakistani authorities as the reason they left.

HRW stated that many of these refugees are at risk of persecution if they return – including the former government’s security forces.

“Human Rights Watch and the UN have documented extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detention, and torture and other ill-treatment of people affiliated with the former government’s military and police forces, some of whom had returned to Afghanistan after first seeking refuge in Pakistan,” the report read.

Returning refugees meanwhile have generally had to abandon property and savings in Pakistan, and have few livelihood opportunities or little land in Afghanistan.

HRW also stated that Pakistan’s coerced returns, expulsions and deportations of Afghans may amount to violations of Pakistan’s obligations as a party to the UN Convention Against Torture and the customary international law principle prohibiting refoulement, or forced return to a place where they would face a genuine risk of persecution, torture or other ill-treatment, or a threat to their life.

Germany and other countries have also put Afghans at risk by deporting them to Afghanistan, the HRW report stated.

“Afghanistan is not safe for any forced refugee returns,” Pearson said, “Countries that pledged to resettle at-risk Afghans should respond to the urgency of the situation in Pakistan and expedite those cases.”

As of the start of 2025, Afghans were one of the world’s largest refugee populations, numbering 6.4 million. Many Afghan refugees in Pakistan have lived there since the war in Afghanistan began in 1978. Continuing instability, including the takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, have driven 1.6 million more Afghans to neighboring Pakistan and Iran.

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Bayat Foundation delivers Ramadan aid to needy families in Bamyan

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Bayat Foundation has announced it has distributed Ramadan aid packages to dozens of needy families in Bamyan province.

These aid packages include flour, oil, and rice, intending to assist those in need during the holy month of Ramadan.

Officials from the foundation stated that these donations will be extended to needy families in other provinces of the country by the end of Ramadan.

“As part of the Bayat Foundation’s ongoing assistance, today we are distributing Ramadan aid packages in Bamyan province. These packages contain flour, rice, and oil,” said Sayed Hakim, a representative of the Bayat Foundation in Bamyan.

Meanwhile, recipients of the aid have called on other charitable organizations to also rush to assist those in need during this month.
One recipient expressed gratitude: “Thanks to the Bayat Foundation for considering help for people like us.”
Another recipient added: “Thank you to the Bayat Foundation for helping us, and we hope that in the future, more aid will be provided to the poor people of Bamyan.”

In addition to supporting public welfare projects, healthcare, and those affected by natural disasters, the Bayat Foundation has been providing food and non-food aid to thousands of needy families in the center and provinces of Afghanistan during each Ramadan for nearly two decades.

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Pakistan once again urges IEA to act against militants

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Pakistan’s foreign ministry on Thursday called on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to take visible and verifiable action against militants who, it said, enjoy sanctuaries inside Afghanistan.

“Terrorist threat against Pakistan from terrorist entities including TTP, BLA and ISKP is our foremost concern,” Shafqat Ali Khan, Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said. “We continue to impress upon interim authorities to take visible and verifiable action against them, keeping in view their commitments given to the international community to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and groups from the Afghan soil.”

Regarding Afghan refugees, he confirmed that the deadline for their deportation remains unchanged. Pakistan had set March 31 as the deadline for Afghan Citizenship Card holders and illegal foreigners to leave Pakistan voluntarily. 

On border issues, Shafaqat Ali Khan informed that the Torkham border was reopened on Wednesday, with pedestrian travel allowed from Friday. The border will remain open until April 15, and a permanent solution is being sought. There won’t be any construction by Afghan side inside the Pakistani territory, he said.

On militancy, he said that Pakistan is taking robust actions, but it is impossible to completely seal off the border with Afghanistan.

IEA has previously rejected Pakistan’s claims that terrorists have sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

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We need contemporary sciences more than ever nowadays: Education Minister

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Acting Minister of Education Habibullah Agha says content contradicting religion and Afghan traditions will be removed from the curriculum, and that in addition to religious studies, the ministry is also focusing on modern sciences.

Marking the beginning of the 1404 academic year in Kabul, Habibullah Agha stressed that both religious and modern sciences are essential nowadays in Afghanistan.

He emphasized that the Islamic Emirate is committed to both fields of knowledge and urged people not to be deceived by negative propaganda.

“In this era, we have a great need to learn modern sciences. We must progress with these sciences and prepare ourselves to compete with the world,” said Agha.

He clarified that only through mastering modern sciences can the nation safeguard its people, government, health, and geography.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs Abdul Salam Hanafi, who was also present at the event, reaffirmed the leadership’s commitment to fulfilling the Ministry of Education’s needs to establish a high-quality education system in Afghanistan.

Salam Hanafi stressed that the ministry must work to meet the country’s current educational demands.

He stated: “Enhancing teachers’ capabilities, addressing literacy issues, monitoring classroom activities, and improving the quality of both religious and public schools—these are the responsibilities of the Ministry of Education.”

Meanwhile, several government officials claimed that despite efforts by adversaries to tarnish the reputation of the IEA through a ‘cold war’, Afghanistan continues to make progress every day.

The 1404 academic year however began without reopening schools for girls above the sixth grade.

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