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UN rights office urges Pakistan to halt Afghan deportations
As November 1 deadline approaches, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Friday called on the Pakistani government to “suspend forcible returns of Afghan nationals before it is too late to avoid a human rights catastrophe”.
“We call on them to continue providing protection to those in need and ensure that any future returns are safe, dignified and voluntary, and fully consistent with international law,” OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement.
“We believe many of those facing deportation will be at grave risk of human rights violations if returned to Afghanistan, including arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, cruel and other inhuman treatment, spokesperson said.
She said, “We are extremely alarmed by Pakistan’s announcement that it plans to deport ‘undocumented’ foreign nationals remaining in the country after Nov 1, a measure that will disproportionately impact more than 1.4 million undocumented Afghans who remain in Pakistan.”
There are more than two million undocumented Afghans living in Pakistan, with at least 600,000 of them leaving Afghanistan after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) takeover in August 2021.
“Those at particular risk are civil society activists, journalists, human rights defenders, former government officials and security force members, and of course women and girls as a whole, who, as a result of the abhorrent policies currently in place in Afghanistan, are banned from secondary and tertiary education, working in many sectors and other aspects of daily and public life,” she said.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have already documented a sharp increase in returns to Afghanistan since the deadline was announced on Oct 3. A recent flash report by UNHCR and IOM placed the number of Afghans who left Pakistan in the month up to Oct 15 at 59,780 individuals.
Seventy-eight per cent of those returning cited the fear of arrest as the reason for leaving Pakistan.
The spokesperson stated that deportations without individualised determinations of personal circumstances, including any mass deportations, would amount to refoulement in violation of international human rights law, in particular the convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, to which Pakistan is a state party, and of international refugee law.
And as winter approaches, any mass deportations are bound to deepen the dire humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, as it grapples with the devastating impact of a series of earthquakes that struck Herat province this month, leaving at least 1,400 people dead and 1,800 injured, as per official figures, spokesperson said.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, close to 30 million people currently need relief assistance in Afghanistan, out of a population of 43 million, and 3.3 million are internally displaced.
“We remind the de facto authorities of the international human rights obligations that continue to bind Afghanistan as a state and their obligations to protect, promote and fulfil human rights.” OHCHR spokesperson said.
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There are many differences between Syria and IEA: Ahmad al-Sharaa
Sharaa denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan.
There are many differences between Syria and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), Syria's de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has said.
In an interview with the BBC in Damascus, Sharaa denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan.
Sharaa said the countries were very different, with different traditions. Afghanistan was a tribal society. In Syria, he said, there was a different mindset.
“Afghanistan is a tribal community. Syria is completely different. The people just don’t think in the same way. The Syrian government and the ruling system will be in line with Syria’s history and culture,” he said.
He said he believed in education for women.
“When it comes to women’s education, of course. We have had universities in Idlib for more than eight years. I think the percentage of women in universities is more than 60 percent.
"We've had universities in Idlib for more than eight years," Sharaa said, referring to Syria's north-western province that has been held by rebels since 2011.
"I think the percentage of women in universities is more than 60%."
Asked whether the consumption of alcohol would be allowed, Sharaa said: "There are many things I just don't have the right to talk about because they are legal issues."
He added that there would be a "Syrian committee of legal experts to write a constitution. They will decide. And any ruler or president will have to follow the law".
The Islamic Emirate has not yet commented on Ahmad al-Sharaa’s remarks on Afghanistan.
The remarks come as girls above the sixth grade have been denied the right to education for more than three years and universities are also closed to women.
Reports suggest that the leadership of the Islamic Emirate has also recently decided to close medical institutes to girls.
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Blinken urges Syria’s HTS to learn from Islamic Emirate’s isolation
The Islamic Emirate, however, rejects Blinken’s statements and says that Afghanistan is not currently isolated from the world and that they have relations with other countries.
Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, has urged Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria to fulfill its promises of forming an inclusive government and learn from the global isolation faced by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday, Blinken called for the establishment of a “non-sectarian” government in Syria that protects minorities and addresses security concerns.
“The Taliban (IEA) presented a more moderate face during their takeover of Afghanistan - or at least tried to - but their true nature later became evident,” he said.
As a result, the IEA remains globally isolated due to their failure to deliver on their commitments, he added.
He went on to state: “If you are an emerging group in Syria and wish to avoid such isolation, you must take specific actions to advance the country.”
Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of Syria’s HTS, has vowed that Syria will not follow the path of Afghanistan under the IEA.
Jolani has consistently advocated for protecting individual freedoms, ensuring women’s rights, and fostering a pluralistic society.
The Islamic Emirate, however, rejects Blinken's statements and says that Afghanistan is not currently isolated from the world and that they have relations with other countries.
The IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated that the Islamic Emirate government has fulfilled all its commitments made in Doha.
Meanwhile, a number of Afghan experts believe that the United States is still using political and economic pressure against the Islamic Emirate to achieve its political goals.
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Two horror accidents on Kabul-Kandahar highway leave 52 dead
The Islamic Emirate has directed the relevant directorate’s to investigate the incidents to determine the exact cause of both accidents
Two late-night traffic accidents in southeastern Afghanistan left at least 52 people dead and more than 65 injured, the Islamic Emirate confirmed early Thursday.
The accidents on Wednesday night happened in Ghazni province. Both accidents involved buses and one involved a fuel tanker.
According to a statement issued by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said: "It is with great regret that we learned that two fatal traffic accidents occurred on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, as a result of which 52 of our compatriots were martyred and 65 others were injured."
The Islamic Emirate has directed the relevant directorate’s to investigate the two accidents to determine the exact cause of both.
The Directorate of Information and Culture of Ghazni province meanwhile said in a statement that 47 people had died and 73 others were injured in the accidents.
The directorate stated that the injured had been taken to hospital; some of whom were in a critical condition.
One accident involved a passenger bus and a fuel tanker and the other involved a passenger bus and truck.
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