Afghanistan, refugees and Pakistani interests

A media report quoted official sources as saying that the government has decided to deport all illegal Afghan refugees back to their homeland. It has been reported that the number of such refugees is around 11 lakh. It has also been reported that the caretaker federal cabinet has also given the green signal for the approval of this decision.

With the increasing number of Afghan refugees and their activities becoming a poison to Pakistan’s socio-economic system, Pakistan is finding it difficult to protect the collective interests of its citizens and maintain effective governance.

It is also seen that a large part of the Afghan refugees are involved in terrorism, suicide bombings and bombings in Pakistan, while with the cooperation of local Pakistanis, these people are involved in the illegal business of foreign currency, especially dollars. Billions of dollars have been illegally remitted to Afghanistan and other countries due to which the value of the Pakistani rupee has depreciated, Pakistan’s debt has increased abnormally, and Pakistan’s business community has suffered from severe financial problems.

In the context of growing concerns about involvement in various illegal activities including smuggling of flour, ghee and fertilizer and illegal trade of essential commodities like sugar, the government of Pakistan should not delay in taking such a decision but rather the registered Afghan refugees. There is also a need to take practical steps to return so that Pakistan can get rid of the remnants of the Cold War.

Majority of these unregistered refugees are present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh, especially Karachi have a large number of Afghan refugees, most of them have been able to get Pakistan ID cards.

Even Azad Jammu and Kashmir is hosting thousands of illegal Afghans, while Gilgit-Baltistan is also home to people from Afghanistan. Is.

Since the fall of Kabul in August 2021, more than six hundred thousand new Afghan refugees have entered Pakistan. Now developed Western countries, rich Arab countries, Japan, South Korea etc. are not ready to provide financial support to the Taliban government of Afghanistan, these countries are also reluctant to cooperate in the relief efforts of refugees in Pakistan.

Most of the people from Afghanistan are coming to Pakistan from 2 routes, one from Balochistan and the other from Torkham border, about 5 thousand people come to Pakistan from Torkham in a day, out of which 2 thousand stay here, but this is about them. It is not known where they stay.

Security officials at the Torkham border allow Afghan nationals to enter Pakistan who have a travel document called “Tazkira” issued by the Afghan government. However, this document cannot be verified, the mention is written in two or three ways, sometimes it is printed, sometimes it is written in Persian or handwritten.

A large number of people coming from Afghanistan come to Pakistan on medical grounds, after entering Pakistan, these people went back or not, these statistics are made wrong. The government should make such a policy that the process of entry of Afghan citizens into Pakistan through Tazkira should be stopped and only Afghan citizens who have visa on their passports should be allowed to come to Pakistan.

Apart from this, the Afghan citizens who come to Pakistan for treatment should have their digital data, which is directly linked to the central system, so that it will be known that the patients coming for treatment from Afghanistan are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab. Or from which hospital in Sindh they are being treated and where are the people accompanying the patient staying and have these people gone back to Afghanistan before the expiry of their visa or not. It is not known whether those who come to Pakistan are terrorists, come for treatment or come here for any other purpose, so data is essential.

The Pak-Afghan border needs to be further secured, the scope of Customs and Customs Intelligence should also be expanded, the training and education of the police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan should be on modern lines. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the province most affected by the illegal activities of Afghan refugees, Afghans in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are involved in kidnapping for ransom, drug trafficking, illegal weapons, traffic accidents, human trafficking and other major crimes.

Many illegal Afghans are wanted by law enforcement agencies for various crimes, many of whom have been arrested. Several suspicious people were arrested in different areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, and the latest American weapons were recovered from them. It can be easily seen.

On the other hand, according to the World Bank, this year, the inflation rate in Afghanistan has decreased by more than nine percent and the prices of food items have decreased by 12 percent, while the interim government of Afghanistan has welcomed the recent report of the World Bank and corrected the facts in it. Appreciate the presentation process.

The interim government of Afghanistan often releases news reports that Kabul and other cities are peaceful, business is booming, companies from India, China and many other countries have started projects there, it is also said that Afghanistan has more than 1200 mineral deposits, the mineral wealth is estimated at 3 trillion dollars. On August 31 this year, Afghan government officials signed 7 mining agreements with local and international corporations.

It is a simple question that when the economy of Afghanistan is becoming so stable, law and order is established, business is developing, the currency of Afghanistan is worth more than the Pakistani rupee, new investments are taking place, if all this is true and real. So why is the government of Afghanistan not announcing to bring back its Afghan citizens? Why do the Afghan refugees in Pakistan not go back to their homes in Afghanistan and above all why does the government of Pakistan not take the final decision to send the Afghan refugees back?

Afghanistan’s anti-Pakistan policies and Afghan refugees have adversely affected Pakistan’s security and economy, terrorism and unrest in Pakistan have reduced economic activity, increased uncertainty and fears, and shaken investor confidence.

83 thousand Pakistanis were martyred due to terrorism, the direct and indirect losses of the Afghan conflict are up to 126 billion dollars. Although Pakistan has made significant gains in the war on terrorism, the country is still prone to large-scale terrorist attacks, the Afghanistan transit trade being the basis for an unprecedented expansion in the size of the black economy in Pakistan.

Afghan authorities misrepresent the values ​​of Afghan transit trade items with Pakistan Customs, resulting in significant discrepancies between the reported and actual value of the goods. The recently exposed solar panels scandal is the latest example of this. It is the need of the hour to bring Afghan transit trade in line with international laws.