Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan is the one residence Mohammad Laal Khan has recognized. He was born right here. He married right here. His youngsters have been born right here. He buried his eldest brother right here.
However a late-night police raid in November final 12 months shattered his sense of belonging.
Khan was born in South Waziristan, a tribal district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a number of years after his dad and mom fled the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. For the reason that Nineteen Nineties, the household — together with Khan’s mom, 4 brothers, their households, and different kinfolk — has lived within the suburbs of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad in mud-plastered homes with out electrical energy or different primary utilities.
Now he’s on Pakistan’s record for deportation.
“It’s as if being an Afghan is a curse upon our existence,” Khan, 36, advised Al Jazeera on a latest March afternoon in the identical room the place dozens of cops had stormed in, threatening to remove all the boys.
Khan says, regardless of a lot pleading, 4 of his brothers have been taken away and charged with residing within the nation “illegally”. Their ordeal ended after two weeks when a court docket granted them bail.
All the household possesses Afghan Citizenship Playing cards (ACC), a government-sanctioned identification doc issued to Afghan residents residing in Pakistan. However over the previous two years, between September 2023 and February 2025, a systemic authorities crackdown on Afghan nationals has resulted within the expulsion of almost 850,000 Afghans from Pakistan, together with ladies and kids.
Now, tons of of 1000’s of ACC-holding Afghans like Khan, having spent virtually their complete lives in Pakistan, face expulsion from April 1.
“We don’t know something about Afghanistan. We now have lived right here all our lives, made pals right here, constructed our companies right here. If the federal government insists on throwing us out, we are going to depart, however we are going to return as soon as once more,” Khan stated.
“That is our residence.”
Pakistan’s deportation plan
Pakistan presently hosts greater than 2.5 million Afghans, in keeping with authorities estimates.
Amongst them, about 1.3 million possess a Proof of Registration (PoR) card, first launched in 2006 and issued by the United Nations refugee company, UNHCR, whereas one other 800,000 maintain an ACC, issued in 2017.
These paperwork have been beforehand recognised as proof of legit residence in Pakistan.
Not any extra.
In a two-page doc issued in January, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s workplace outlined a three-phase “relocation” plan.
The primary section targets the deportation of all Afghans now seen as undocumented — together with ACC holders. The second section focuses on PoR cardholders, who’ve been granted aid to remain till June 2025. The ultimate section will tackle Afghan residents who’re awaiting relocation to 3rd nations.
Minister of State for Inside Talal Chaudhry stated the federal government was agency in its stance, regardless of pleas from the UNHCR and world rights organisations similar to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty Worldwide.
“We now have hosted Afghans within the nation for 4 many years, displaying our hospitality and generosity, nevertheless it can’t proceed indefinitely. They should return,” he advised Al Jazeera.
With the beginning of this new wave of deportations slated for round Eid — Pakistan celebrates the in any other case festive event on March 31 — the deadline has prompted criticism. Many see it as an effort to wrongfully demonise Afghan nationals by linking them to felony actions.
Lately, Pakistan has suffered from a sequence of lethal assaults by armed teams that Islamabad alleges function from Afghanistan. This has additionally led to a spike in tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers.
“Pakistani officers ought to instantly cease coercing Afghans to return residence and provides these dealing with expulsion the chance to hunt safety,” stated Elaine Pearson, Asia director at HRW, in a March 19 assertion.
Calling the deadline “unyielding and merciless”, Amnesty Worldwide additionally urged Pakistan to rethink its determination.
“These opaque govt orders contravene the federal government’s personal guarantees and repeated calls by human rights organizations to uphold the rights of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers,” stated Isabelle Lassee, deputy regional director for South Asia at Amnesty Worldwide, in a March 26 assertion.
However echoing Chaudhry’s sentiments, Pakistan’s Ministry of International Affairs has insisted that the federal government had “fulfilled its obligations” by internet hosting Afghans and was not certain to seek the advice of the UNHCR.
Nevertheless, Qaiser Afridi, the spokesperson for the UNHCR, stated they’re involved that among the many ACC holders, there could also be some people who could require worldwide safety.
“We’re urging the federal government to see their scenario by a humanitarian lens. We additionally name for engagement between Pakistan and Afghanistan in order that their return may be dignified and voluntary,” Afridi advised Al Jazeera.
That alone, Afridi stated, would make sure that “reintegration in Afghanistan is sustainable”.
‘Why are we being pushed away?’
Initially from Kunduz in Afghanistan, Khan’s household relocated to Islamabad within the early Nineteen Nineties and has lived there ever since.
Khan’s room has tough, mud-plastered partitions enclosing a modest area with folded mattresses, a easy rug, and some private belongings.
Sitting quietly within the room was Khan’s mom, Guldana Bibi, 71, with a wrinkled face, deep-set hazel eyes, and a shawl overlaying her head.
“I’ve lived on this nation for 4 many years. My youngsters, my grandchildren, have been all born right here. My husband was my final connection to Afghanistan, and he died years in the past. Why are we being pushed away?” she stated.
Alongside together with his brothers, Khan ran a wooden shuttering enterprise, however twice within the final 10 years – in 2015 and 2023 – they have been pressured to cease work and promote what that they had of their outlets as a consequence of authorities crackdowns on Afghans. Khan claims he incurred losses of almost 1.8 million rupees ($6,400).
“Individuals ask why we haven’t achieved higher economically. My response is, how are you going to when your life is repeatedly uprooted, otherwise you’re pressured to pay bribes simply to exist?” Khan stated, sitting cross-legged together with his arms folded.
“Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighbours. That may by no means change. However hating one another will remedy nothing, nor will sending individuals again.”
‘This cafe is my life’
Roughly 10km (6 miles) away, in a small however brightly lit and colourfully embellished cafe, Benazir Raofi sat ready for patrons. She has lived in Pakistan for 35 years.
Raofi’s father was a part of the Afghan authorities, and when civil conflict erupted after the Soviet withdrawal, her household left the nation. Whereas her dad and mom and 7 siblings have been capable of depart for India, she was stopped. She was pressured to remain again in Afghanistan.
“I used to be solely 12 years previous. My uncle took care of me earlier than we finally moved to Pakistan in December 1990,” Raofi advised Al Jazeera.
Raofi says it’s the Pakistani individuals who give her hope. After buying her ACC in 2017, she labored for worldwide NGOs in addition to a neighborhood journey agent.
In 2021, she gained a grant for a venture for her concept to create a neighborhood area for girls and kids, which finally became an Afghan Ladies Solidarity Cafe and Restaurant in the summertime of that 12 months, earlier than the Taliban took over Kabul.
The partitions of the colourful, however cluttered cafe are adorned with framed certificates, small ornamental objects, and synthetic vines with flowers. On one of many partitions is a big picture of the Darul Aman, a historic three-storey palace in Afghanistan.
“When Afghan nationals come to go to the cafe, it reminds them of residence,” Raofi stated, with a smile. “I simply wished to supply an area for households, however after the autumn of Kabul, my café grew to become a sanctuary for therefore many Afghans. It not solely allowed me to earn an trustworthy residing, but in addition to be useful to the neighborhood,” she added.
Nevertheless, she now fears what the federal government would possibly do to ACC holders like her.
“I’m a single girl, and I’m who I’m due to common, widespread Pakistanis who’ve supported, protected and nurtured me,” she stated, sipping her kahva, a scorching beverage made with inexperienced tea leaves, cinnamon, and cardamom.
Raofi, who continues to run the cafe, says regardless of dealing with health-related setbacks and even theft at her home two years in the past, her life in Pakistan was snug, and regardless of the federal government’s deportation plan, she was by no means bothered, nor did she fear.
Till this 12 months.
“Since January, police have come to my cafe twice and advised me I can’t work right here, and I ought to depart the town. However why ought to I? This metropolis is my residence for the final 30 years. This cafe is my life,” she stated.
With the deportation deadline looming, Raofi admits she has no contingency plan.
“I’ve no possibility. I’ve survived alone. No one needs to be a refugee, however what different nation can I’m going to when Pakistan is all I do know? I’ll die right here, however I gained’t depart.”
