Top court puts Pakistan's government on notice over repatriation of Afghans

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) – Pakistan's top court on Friday put the government on notice over repatriation of undocumented foreigners, most of them are Afghan refugees.

A Supreme Court judge observed that Islamabad was bound by the UN conventions on rights and protection of refugees.

"Pakistan is a signatory to the UN conventions on the protection of the rights of refugees," Justice Ayesha Malik said, adding that it was a matter of interpretation of the caretaker government's powers.

The top court was hearing two petitions challenging repatriation of over 1 million Afghan refugees from Pakistan.

Farhatullah Babar, former senator and petitioner, told the three-member bench, made up of Malik, Sardar Tariq Masood, and Yahya Afridi, that the caretaker government has no power and mandate to deport illegal Afghan citizens.

The court issued notices to the federal government, Foreign Ministry and Attorney General for Pakistan, and adjourned the case to next week.

The petition was jointly submitted to the top court by Babar, Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, former member of National Assembly Mohsin Dawar, human rights activists Jibran Nasir, Amina Masood Janjua and several others, seeking to stop the government from deporting Afghan refugees.

Pakistan gave a one-month deadline in October for all undocumented foreigners to leave by Nov. 1 or face forcible expulsion.

Afghanistan, the UN, Amnesty International, and other organizations have opposed Islamabad's decision to evict the undocumented refugees and said the return must be voluntary and without any pressure.

Amnesty International urged Pakistan to halt the "continued detentions, deportations and widespread harassment" of Afghan refugees.

More than 400,000 undocumented Afghan refugees have so far left Pakistan in the last month, according to the Afghan interim government.

The latest UN figures indicated that 1.3 million Afghans enjoy the status of registered refugees, while 880,000 have legal status to stay in Pakistan.​​​​​​​