Suspension of Repatriation of illegal Afghan Citizens: Implications for National Security
Shahzad Masood Roomi
A statement from Prime Minister Office (PMO) was issued on 18th July 2024, Wednesday, saying that “The federal cabinet approved one-year extension of the validity of POR (Proof of Registration) cards of 1.45 million Afghan refugees. Their POR cards have been expired on June 30, 2024. The extension has been granted until June 30, 2025,”. Repatriation operation has been suspended for now.
To have the ability to monitor and track movement of all people within its borders is one of the fundamental statecrafts for any sovereign state. To be able to carry out this action states adopt various governance and administrative mechanism. Issuing national IDs, registration of families, and carrying out national senses are part of such mechanisms. Throughout history states have suffered detrimental consequences ignoring it, due to any reason. Pakistan’s internal security has been challenged since last more than two decades and illegal Afghan citizen who came here decades ago have proven a perfect cover for TTP terrorists to enter Pakistan. A new wave of terrorism hit the country in 2022 and it continues to amplify ever since.
In November 2023, after detailed deliberations, Pakistan initiated a widely criticized repatriation program aimed at returning millions of Afghans, regardless of their legal status. Following an aggressive timeline, Pakistan managed to successfully repatriate more than 635,000 illegal Afghan refugees in less than a year. Still there are millions staying in Pakistan, either with or without any identification documentation.
According to the official data, at present, Pakistan hosts approximately three million Afghan citizens, with close to 2.4 million possessing some form of legal documentation. Of these, almost 1.5 million hold a UNHCR Proof of Residence card, and another 800,000 possess an Afghan Citizenship Card (ACC). Pakistan has announced it will extend the registration cards of nearly 1.5 million Afghan refugees after a senior UN official urged the country to halt its deportation plan.
Pakistan took this latest decision of suspending repatriation operation on the request of Afghan government and UN officials. Afghan government certainly lacks the resources required to accommodate all these people coming back in such numbers. Instead of appreciating Pakistani gesture of extending the stay of Afghan citizens on Pakistani soil for another year, there has been a smear campaign against the state of Pakistan and its security institutions for initiating this expatriation process which was part of larger efforts by the state to control deteriorating internal security situation.
There has been a visible spike in propaganda against the state policy of Pakistan to expatriate illegal Afghan citizen to their home country after their prolonged illegal stay in Pakistan. Propagandists are declaring Pakistan’s repatriation decision as abuse of Afghan refugees which is absurd and something which completely defies the truth. Afghan interim government has mocked Pakistan many a times when issue of TTP was raised with Kabul declaring it Pakistan’s internal problem. Now when Pakistan has decided to resolve this issue of terrorism, a fresh wave of insulting remarks have been passed by senior Afghan leaders including their military commanders. The truth is, Afghan government is not able to cater its own citizens and this fact became visible when many illegal Afghan citizens when put in buses pleaded with security forces not to send them back to Afghanistan. Even today, in the three big hospitals of Peshawar, there are reportedly one Afghan citizen patient on every second bed. In the same way, Afghan refugees with proper documentation have been continuing their commercial and business activities. The government of Pakistan is still following the commitment that no one will be forcibly evicted until June 31, 2025 despite a clear majority of national security experts are advising for an immediate repatriation.
Part of propaganda against repatriation policy about illegal Afghan citizen in Pakistan stems from ongoing cyber terrorism by hostile forces. Taking cover of online anonymity, antagonistic trolls distort facts and present the state of Pakistan as inhumane. These cyber ops are part of larger psy-ops to persuade gullible young minds on linguistic and ethnic fault lines. Exploiting these fault lines are part of TTP’s recruitment process. In this process, these young minds are poisoned with hatred towards the state and other ethnic and linguistic groups which eventually leads to violent indoctrination turning the targeted souls into terrorists.
So, it is important to understand such issues in their correct context. To prevent hostile indoctrination, government must aggressively engage both electronic and social media to dispel the propaganda during the next one year. Current pause has been seen as sign of state’s weakness which is yet another disturbing fact. UNHCR and other agencies involved in this process must briefed about Pakistan’s security challenges and the role these illegal Afghan refugees play in these challenges. Pakistan must continue to expatriate all Afghan refugees and even POR cards must be declared invalid after a certain time and after that anyone coming into Pakistan from Torkham must contain a valid visa and Afghan ID issues by Kabul regime. Pakistan must act as normal state in this regard. No country allows entry on its soil without proper visa or permission and Pakistan can’t be an exception in this regard.
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