The Home and Tribal Affairs Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday ordered all commissioners and DIGs to expel Afghan clerics from the province and submit a report over the implementation within seven days.
A Home Department source said that there were 294 Afghan Pesh Imams (prayer leaders) in the province and their documentation had been sent to relevant commissioners as part of the National Action Plan.
The KP government is taking a tough stand against registered and unregistered Afghans after the killing of 150 people, including 134 children, in the December 16 terrorist attack on Army Public School in Peshawar.
There are fears that the KP government’s approach to the Afghan refugee crisis will result in the harassment and exploitation of Afghan refugees at the hands of the police. Just this week, a New York Times report described the mistreatment meted out to Afghan refugees in Pakistani camps, with some forced out if they couldn’t pay the police.
Currently, Pakistan hosts 1.6 million Afghan refugees, whom the government has issued the Proof of Registration cards through the National Database Registration Authority and thus, legalising their stay in the country until December 2015.
The number of unregistered Afghan nationals is said to be between two and three million.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has spoken against the forceful return of Afghanistan refugees from Pakistan, reminding the government of their obligation to protect all Afghans in the country, including those not registered as refugees.
The recent increase in the repatriation of refugees seem to indicate that they have been coerced into leaving by the local authorities, claimed HRW.
