Kochi: Afghanistan is up in arms against Pakistan for driving away over 1.5 million Afghan refugees and migrants from its land, media reports said.
Blaming the Afghans for creating terror activities in Pakistan, Islamabad had issued a deadline of October 31 for the Afghans to quit Pakistan or else face detention, the reports said.
Pakistan claimed most Afghans moved out of their own will, while Afghanistan which has been contested by Kabul which has described the matter as “unilateral”.
Many Afghans crossed over to Pakistan after the Soviet occupied the country in the late 1970s and 1980s. The inflow into Pakistan increased after September 11 when the US landed its military in Afghanistan to crush Taliban and Al Qaeda.
After the Taliban came to power in 2021, about eight lakh Afghans reached Pakistan.
According to the Pakistani government, there were about 4 million foreigners in the country before October 31, nearly 3.8 million of them Afghans. Of those, only 2.2 million Afghans had a valid document to stay in Pakistan.
Islamabad accused Afghan migrants of carrying out 14 of the 24 bombings in Pakistan in recent years.
The banned armed outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), having ideological proximity to the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan, has strained the relationship between two countries.
The TTP was founded in 2007 with a goal to impose its hardline interpretation of Islamic law over Pakistan which accused TTP of carrying out the attack on a Pakistan Air Force base in Mianwali in Punjab province.
According to Islamabad TTP enjoys safe havens in Afghanistan from where it attacks aPakistani security forces and installations. This has been refuted by Afghan authorities.
Afghanistan interim Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund said Pakistan’s decision to expel refugees violated international laws.
Deputy premier Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai warned Islamabad to not provoke Kabul.
Pakistan’s deportation policy is a sign of desperation since it is unable to find common ground with Kabul over the TTP, the reports said.
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