Photo credit: Human rights watch
As Pakistan escalates efforts to expel Afghan migrants, many are being forced to auction off their household belongings at deeply reduced prices.
AMU reports that most of those affected are in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, where authorities have intensified efforts for Afghan nationals to leave.
Shujauddin, an Afghan migrant living in Rawalpindi with his six-member family, said he faces deportation despite holding a valid visa.
He said, “I rented this shop a year ago for a huge sum – about 1.8 million Pakistan rupees – and invested in it. But now, because of the government’s decision, I am being forced to move to another city. If I don’t leave, they will arrest and deport us back to Afghanistan. I have put all my shop’s goods up for auction at low prices.”
Ikram Ahmadi, another Afghan migrant, said: “I have been living in Pakistan for five years. We spent a lot of money here, worked hard, and bought household items. Just as our lives were getting settled, the government decided to deport us. Now, we have to sell everything, but the things we bought for 20,000 rupees are not even selling for 10,000 Some items, even at 5,000 rupees or less, remain unsold.”
Another migrant, Bahara Rufi said that even those with valid documents are being pressured to relocate. He said: When we left Afghanistan, we sold all our household items and moved to Pakistan. But now, we are being forced out of Rawalpindi and told to move to another city in Pakistan. Because we are Afghan, we aren’t allowed to live anywhere.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has granted Afghan refugees with valid visas and those with relocation cases until the end of March to remain in Pakistan. After that, Pakistan police are expected to begin arresting and forcibly deporting Afghan nationals from Islamabad and Rawalpindi
