Repatriation of Afghan Refugees

History and its authors have always penned down the Pak-Afghan relations as a disturbed kinship that does not know the art of managing the already deteriorating scenario. The precarious balance of the Pak-Afghan relations is not limited to the unending short-term decisions of opening and closing the Torkham Border. It rather reinstates and holds the fact of driving Afghanistan away into the nexus of India, which would have a harsh consequence: attacking Pakistan’s interests in the long race.

The announcement by Prime Minster Sharif to open the Torkham and Chaman crossings has been made on humanitarian grounds. Sending back the Afghan refugees requires a framework that works out for both the governments and the citizens on both sides of the border. The crossings connect the Nanghar province of Afghanistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).But the closing of borders has affected millions of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan with unstable situation and uncertainty since the last month. The terrorist incidents that have killed many in Pakistan have been linked with the fact of being framed in Afghanistan-thus resulting in closing of the border. Pakistan and Afghanistan have faced the troubled narratives that have shaped the regional politics consequently. But it also is now initiating a subtext to the narrative of biasness and hatred that is experienced between the two states.

For the past month, Pakistan is fighting its own version of ethnic biasness and prejudice that is being projected at the Pashtuns and Afghans in police investigations. Numerous events and incidents have been reported that show the mistreatment of the Pashtuns at the hands of the authorities. The forced return of the Nat Geo’s green-eyed Sharbat Gula last year sparked immense controversy in the international media. This mistreatment of the nationals and of the refugees is fueling the strained relation.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have never had relations that can be termed as cordial or at the very least balancing for the region. What is being termed as the biggest ‘forced’ return of the refugees in a report by the Human Rights Watch titled ‘Pakistan, Coercion, UN Complicity: The Mass Forced Return of Afghan Refugees’ is damning to Pakistan’s reputation in a manner that precisely fails the cause of the immediate situation that Pakistan is trying to project through its recent events and economic progress. The region of South Asia has been marred with conflicts and issues of grave backgrounds that do not give enough room to juxtapose normal policies. Pakistan in a region like this-with crucial geostrategic importance has hosted some nearly three million Afghan refugees for more than three decades. The state of Pakistan has been a host to the refugees and has shared its educational and national services. The sudden migration of refugees to Pakistan in the 80s impacted the business and economic activities of KPK and FATA-making them owners of many small and new businesses. Now the workforce, labour, comprises of these Afghan refugees and their sudden return to the war-torn Afghanistan would impact the structure of KPK and FATA again, and would also fuel the sentiments of many ethnic Pashtuns in the state. An exodus of such nature would not only damage Pakistan’s reputation but would also form the narrative of how nationalist and rightist sentiments in Pakistan are gaining a strong footing. Of course, without an iota of doubt, Pakistan’s security is what the Armed Forces are striving for-with the success of the operations like Zarb-e-Azab, extremism has been reduced to a great extent.

The repatriation of Afghan refugees is an issue that requires not just prejudice or fueled reporting but the figures given in the report by the Human Rights Watch-provide for some serious concern over the matter. According to the report, some nearly 365,000 refugees out of the registered 1.5 million have been forced back to Afghanistan along with some 200,000 from the unregistered 1 million as well have been forced to return. Furthermore, forcing the Afghan refugees to return back, adds to the estimate of the Internally Displaced Persons in the war-torn state. It would create a refugee crisis, termed as the ‘humanitarian emergency’ by the UN refugee agency. The return besides being termed as forced is also being termed illegal under the realm of international law. Based on a binding customary law of re-foulement that does not allow it to return an individual to a place where his/her life is threatened. Therefore, the gravest concern in the entire process of repatriation is the situation in Afghanistan-which has not shown the statistics of being improved for the refugees to start a better life.

However, Pakistan more than the developed states, has contributed in assisting the Afghan neighbours, with its economic situation it has hosted them and offered them its services. The recent terrorist attacks though have developed the need for a different approach for the security of the state. But, the kind of image that Pakistan wants to project, the kind of narrative that the state wants to change within its domestic limits to curb radicalism, would only be intensified through such measures and steps. A respectful return of the Afghan refugees might help to keep the geostrategic balance of South Asia intact and to stop an already approaching humanitarian emergency in such a situation.