Pakistan: Authorities Order Illegal Immigrants to Leave Country

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Facts

• On Tuesday, Pakistan ordered all undocumented immigrants — including about 1.73M Afghans — to leave the country by Nov. 1 or face extradition.¹
• On Tuesday, Pakistan ordered all undocumented immigrants — including about 1.73M Afghans — to leave the country by Nov. 1 or face extradition.²
• Claiming to possess 'evidence' of the assertion, Pakistan Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said 14 of the 24 suicide bombings in the country to have taken place this year were carried out 'by Afghan nationals.'³
• In a stern warning to any immigrants who should fail to leave before the deadline, Bugti stated: 'All our state law enforcement agencies will unleash an operation with full-throttle to deport them.'⁴
• Pakistan's caretaker government also reportedly plans to initiate DNA testing to detect illegal immigrants who have allegedly conspired with locals over the creation of fake national identity cards.⁵
• Around 2.4M of the 4.4M Afghans residing in Pakistan have refugee status, making them eligible for government identity cards, thereby allowing them to access banking services and send their children to school.⁶
• Meanwhile, Afghanistan's embassy in Islamabad termed the move 'harassment of Afghan refugees.' It further said that over 1K Afghans had been detained recently, despite having a legal right to be in Pakistan.⁷

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Salon, ³Al Jazeera, ⁴Voa, ⁵CNN, ⁶Associated Press and ⁷Ndtv.com.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Dawn.com. The crackdown on undocumented immigrants, primarily Afghans, stems from a dramatic surge of terrorist attacks in Pakistan in recent months, suspected to be directed from militant sanctuaries in Afghanistan. The country has in this period witnessed the largest influx of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion in 1979. Islamabad's latest move will prevent militants from using Pakistani soil to train fighters and cripple law and order.
• Narrative B, as provided by The express tribune. It is inhumane of Pakistan to demand passports and visas for entry from Afghans who have for decades crossed the border using only their national identity cards. Instead of fighting the Islamic state's militants who freely operate along the border and have routinely carried out attacks in Pakistan, Islamabad is evicting innocent people who have fled the Taliban's atrocities back home.
• Narrative C, as provided by Geo. Islamabad may be justified in ordering illegal immigrants to leave the country under national security considerations. However, it should refrain from forcibly evicting the displaced. The authorities must realize that people fleeing persecution often lack necessary documents and permissions, so they must reevaluate how to go about this process.

Predictions