In its written order the Supreme Court sought concise statement from federation in response to plea urging to halt Afghan refugees’ generation deportations orders who were born in Pakistan. It has been reported largely that top court resumed hearing the pleas of human rights groups to stop the deportations of Afghans who were born in Pakistan and those who would be at risk if they were returned to Afghanistan.
International media reported that more than 370,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan since October 01 after Pakistan said it would expel more than a million undocumented refugees and migrants, mostly Afghans, amid a row with Kabul over charges that it harbours anti-Pakistan armed groups.
Pakistan said most Afghans have left voluntarily, a claim rejected by Kabul, which has called the Pakistani action “unilateral” and “humiliating”. “Due to the urgency, as thousands of people are suffering on daily basis, I’ve requested the court to take up the case as early as next week,”
A young Supreme Court lawyer Umar Ijaz Gilani, representing the rights activists has been cited saying thousands of undocumented Afghans have gone underground in Pakistan to avoid deportation, fearing for their lives if they return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan following a hasty and chaotic withdrawal of United States-led Western forces in 2021.
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan has long hosted about 1.7 million Afghans, most of whom fled the country during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation. In addition, more than half a million people fled Afghanistan when the Taliban seized power in August 2021 in the final weeks of a US and NATO pull-out. Human rights activists, United Nations officials and others have denounced Pakistan’s policy and urged Islamabad to reconsider. The petition came a day after an official in Balochistan announced that the southwestern province is setting a target of 10,000 Afghans who are in the country illegally for police to arrest and deport every day.
Filing the petitions on behalf of remedy seekers, Advocate Umer Ijaz Gilani sought court directives for federal government to stop from detaining, forcefully deporting, or otherwise harassing anyone born in Pakistan with a claim to birthright citizenship in accordance with Section 4 of the Citizenship Act, 1951, and the ruling of the Islamabad High Court in 2021 case of Hafiz Hamdullah Saboor. The petitioners submitted the federal government should be directed to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its partner organisations to register, expedite the processing, and decide on all asylum-seeking applications filed by foreigners currently residing in Pakistan. Advocate Gilani contended that the federal government should also be directed to permit UNHCR and its partner organisations to register, expedite the processing, and decide on all asylum-seeking applications in Pakistan.
During last week, a three-member bench of the top court comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Yahya Afridi and Mrs. Justice Ayesha A.Malik resumed hearing of the pleas in the matter. After a brief argument of Advocate Umer Ijaz Gilani, the court find that the matter involves interpretation of Constitutional provisions, consequently it requires consideration of a larger 5-member bench.
Among others, the bench issued notices to federal government through principal law officer of the country directing him to submit a concise statement in the matter.
