The people of Afghanistan have long sought refuge in the neighboring Pakistan, fleeing decades of conflict, poverty and state collapse. Today following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Pakistan is home to more than 3.7 million Afghan refugees.
What has been the impact of this inrush on Pakistan in term of social cohesion as well as national and economic security? How has the Pakistani state responded to the growing crisis? And how can the country policymakers simultaneously meet humanitarian responsibilities and oversee challenges such as terrorist threats and border attacks?
Afghan refugee crisis is an issue of immediate concern with a serious consequence for the region. Trumps executive order signed on the 20th of January realigning and reevaluating foreign aid has proficiently closed United States Agency for international development and stabbed federal support overseas. Impact of this decision has become a harsh reality for the Afghan refugee program in Pakistan where about 3 million refugees have settled since the return of the Taliban led government in Afghanistan in August 2021. United States funding has been the foundation of the refugee program providing over 40 percent of the international aid to Pakistan last year but now this has fallen short by the United Nations. Pakistan is also not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and in past had managed its Afghan refugees through ad hoc arrangements. This month UNHCR Agency in Pakistan revealed that the United States funding freeze would severely impact the agency operations adding the ability to respond in the event of an emergency is also being seriously challenged.
Moreover, it is estimated that over the last 18 months more than 8,45,000 Afghans have left Pakistan. According to the statistics 3 million Afghan refugees are remain in Pakistan, 1.3 million with full proof of registration cards, and 8,00,000 with Afghan citizenship cards (ACC) and 1 million with no paper work. The Pakistan’s Interior Ministry warned those without proper documentation to leave the country voluntarily before mandatory repatriations. And those with proof of registration may remain until the 30th of June. Without any doubt we can say that the refugee crisis in Pakistan is an experiential issue which comes to define Pakistan’s foreign relations with Afghanistan as a crisis in cross border security.
The versatile nature of Pakistan refugee crisis and its impact on the country has economic, humanitarian and security as well as inter-ethnic partisan dimensions. Seen negatively, Afghan refugees have created an acute burden on Pakistan’s resources and services. Afghan refugees are being accused of being contributors to housing shortages, unemployment, rising crime rates, drug dealings, smuggling, black marketing, money laundering and even kidnapping. Besides this they are also held responsible for aggravating in provincial Punjabi, Pashtun, Baloch economic and political tensions. Many blame Afghan refugees for contributing to domestic radicalization and also helping to fund a terrorist organization in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
When we look at the positive side of the account the refugee community has made a strong economic contribution in trucking transport, industries and played a vital role in the construction and many small businesses. Furthermore, they also contributed in educational and medical professions. Pakistan forced repatriation of longtime resident Afghans to the country to which they have no connections and they are wholly unprepared for this because they are moving from nothing to nothing. Many scholars also believe that Afghan refugees are being made scapegoat for economic problems despite contributing to the economic activities. Pakistan deportation policy could backfire with unabsorbed refugees in Afghanistan becoming radicalized and recruited by terrorist organizations. Expulsion of the refugee community can create both opportunities for the native population but it will bring about great losses economically and culturally.
Many International and National scholars as well as political philosophers think that there is some deep-down element in the expulsion of Afghan refugees. The government relations with Taliban are not so good at the moment despite the fact that it was Pakistani military that helped Taliban to come to the power in Kabul. For years the west had been protesting and saying that there was Haqqani network along with Quetta and Peshawar Shura indicating that the Pakistani state and Pakistani military were helping and aiding Taliban in the desire that it would achieve strategic depth against India. But now the accounts have been changed and TTP is attacking Pakistani military due to which there is a lot of anger and annoyance; so the expulsion of Afghan refugees is the way of punishing the Taliban because they actually don’t care about the Afghans in Pakistan as they have their own issues with in Afghanistan regarding terrorist groups such as ISIS and also there is poverty, starvation and many more issues.
The expulsion of Afghans will further sour the feelings of Afghan people about the Pakistan because they saw Pakistan bringing on the Taliban and doing all this for American dollars. But now the Americans have no interest left in Afghanistan so the Pakistan seems to have dropped its interest too. One more thing is that the Pakistani government is not facing a particular resistance from the people here in Pakistan in its policy of expelling Afghan refugees. Well, there are some human rights groups and there are those who are raising questions regarding idea of Pakistan which was supposed to be the homeland for all Muslims of the subcontinent and certainly it is true that Mr. Jinnah’s vision of Pan Islamization is not apparent anymore.
