(New York) – The Pakistani government should reduce rights violations against Afghan refugees by extending their legal residency status until at least December 31, 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. On June 29, 2016, the government extended registered Afghan refugees’ Proof of Residency (PoR) cards for six months, until the end of 2016.





Click to expand Image An Afghan girl stands by the doorway of her family's mud house in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. December 2014. © 2014 Associated Press

The uncertain residency status of Afghan refugees in Pakistan has encouraged police harassment, threats, and extortion, particularly since the deadly December 2014 attack on a Peshawar school by the Pakistani Taliban. Recent statements by senior Pakistani officials have raised concerns of new government actions to restrict the rights of Afghan refugees in the country.

“The Pakistani government’s move to extend Afghan refugees’ residency until the end of 2016 sends an important signal to police and local officials not to harass or coerce Afghan refugees to leave,” said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director. “But an extension to the end of 2017 would allow more time for the situation in Afghanistan to stabilize so that it would be more feasible for them to return in safety and dignity.”



The temporary extension of the PoR cards, which officially recognize their holders’ status as “Afghan citizen[s] temporarily residing in Pakistan,” provides relief to the country’s 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees whose cards were to expire on June 30. However, the six-month extension falls far short of the December 31, 2017 date recommended by the federal Ministry for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON). The extension also fails to address the insecurity among refugees over the duration of that status and uncertainty regarding protection if the government ends their status.



Implicit and explicit threats by Pakistani officials over the past year have exacerbated the Afghans’ insecurity. On May 24, 2016, Balochistan’s provincial home minister, Sarfraz Khan Bugti, said, “Either the Afghan refugees can return voluntarily, with respect and dignity, or the people of Balochistan can humiliate them and throw them out of the country.” On June 27, Pakistan’s minister for SAFRON, Lt. Gen. (Rtd.) Abdul Qadir Baloch, announced that Pakistan would undertake a “new tougher policy” toward Afghan refugees. Baloch justified the policy as a response to recent tensions with Afghanistan including deadly clashes in June between Afghan and Pakistani troops at the Torkham border-crossing. Baloch said that the purpose of the new policy was to repatriate Afghan refugees “with respect,” without elaborating.

Pakistan’s government should protect Afghan refugees from vindictive reprisals linked to cross-border tensions. Phelim Kine Deputy Asia Director



Police in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province



On June 30, SAFRON Minister Baloch expressed support for the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government’s aversion toward Afghan refugees,



“Statements by Pakistani officials against Afghan refugees not only heighten the fears of refugee families, but also could encourage abusive actions by law enforcement officers,” Kine said.



Pakistan is host to 1.5 million PoR card holders, the world’s second-largest protracted refugee population in a single country under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) mandate. In addition, according to Pakistani government estimates, one million undocumented Afghans are living in Pakistan. Police in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province announced on June 28 the arrests of more than 2,000 Afghan “illegal settlers.” Afghan refugees in that province, which shares a long border with Afghanistan and hosts the majority of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, also face major restrictions on their right to freedom of movement. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial government spokesman, Mushtaq Ghani, warned that beginning July 1, “All Afghan refugees will be restricted to their camps and will not be allowed to move freely in the province.” Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police reported on June 29 that they had arrested at least 500 registered Afghan refugees and forcibly deported them on the grounds that they were a perceived “security risk.”On June 30, SAFRON Minister Baloch expressed support for the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government’s aversion toward Afghan refugees, accusing them of “hurting the economy and culture of the province beside their involvement in crimes.”“Statements by Pakistani officials against Afghan refugees not only heighten the fears of refugee families, but also could encourage abusive actions by law enforcement officers,” Kine said.Pakistan is host to 1.5 million PoR card holders, the world’s second-largest protracted refugee population in a single country under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) mandate. In addition, according to Pakistani government estimates, one million undocumented Afghans are living in Pakistan.