World shrugs off as Pak expels Afghan refugees

The tide of refugee crisis has been on rise in the 21st century. The ongoing wars in the Middle East, dictatorial regimes in North Africa, decades-long war in Afghanistan, ethnic conflicts in Myanmar resulted in forcible displacement of millions of hapless individuals from their native countries.

While the exodus of refugees to Europe and fleeing of Rohingya Muslims have been widely debated, forced migration of Afghan refugees is hardly discerned. Termed the “worst migration crisis since World War II” in Europe, refugee crisis is now included under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda of the UN.

Tormented by eternal conflicts, people from Afghanistan have been fleeing to safer havens for the past three decades. Afghanistan is indeed one of the largest producers of refugees. Ever since the Afghan revolution of 1978 followed by Soviet invasion in 1979, civil war in 1990 and oppressive Taliban regime, millions of Afghans began migrating to various countries.

In the past 30 years, over 2.4 million Afghan refugees crossed over to Pakistan of which only 1.4 million are documented. Amidst growing incidents of extortion, harassment, and intimidation Afghan refugees are forced to return. The unprecedented return of refugees overwhelms Afghanistan.

Ever since Peshawar School attacks by Pakistan Taliban in December 2014, Pakistan renewed it campaign of humiliation and harassment towards Afghan refugees. They were literally hounded and forced to leave Pakistan. In the first six weeks after the attack around 33,000 refugees were forced to migrate. From February 2015, Pakistan authorities started raiding houses of Afghan refugees and mounted pressure.

Refugees as a last resort began bribing Pakistan Officials to defer repatriations. Now refugees having run out of money decide to leave Pakistan rather than face increasing hostility and extortion of security forces.

Official records at manned Tokhram Gate exit noted that in 2015 around thousand returnees used to cross over per day and now the average stood at 5,000. As per UN’s emergency aid coordination body OCHA, around 5,38,100 Afghans returned home this year. Border crossings have increased ever since Pakistan announced deadline of March 31, 2017 for deportation.

Pakistan’s contemptible crackdown on Afghans has come under severe criticism since it agreed to a voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Afghanistan but it never fulfilled its vow.

A majority of the urban middle class Afghans embroiled by the unrelenting war reached shores of Europe for asylum. The continent already inundated by an exodus of refugees from Syria began tightening controls. European Union endorsed that Syria is in war zone and bestowed asylum status to Syrians. It refused to consider the pleas of Afghan asylum seekers.

At a conference in Brussels attended by 70 donor countries in October, EU pledged $15.2 billion towards reconstruction of Afghanistan until 2020 besides $5billion a year for military. In return Afghanistan, must take back 2,00,000 asylum seekers who thronged Europe. While both parties said the offer comes with no strings attached, EU’s persistence indicates otherwise.

Now, Iran home to over one million Afghan refugees is coercing them to return. Iran is interested in recruiting the Afghan Hazaras who are Shia Muslims to fight their wars in Middle East, the rest are persuaded to go back. They are lured to join Iranian forces with an offer of citizenship. With prospects of job and better living conditions back home are bleak, desperate Afghan refugees have become expendable soldiers for Iran’s hegemony wars.

With the arrest of Sharbat Gula, National Geographic cover page fame, now aged 44 in Peshawar on November 9th, the widespread crackdown of Pakistan has come to limelight. Gula aged 12, with her piercing green eyes symbolised the plight of Afghan refugees who fled to Pakistan during the Soviet War. She was arrested for holding a fake Pakistan identity card and was deported to Afghanistan with her four children.

With Taliban controlling over dozen provinces over 3,00,000 Afghans are internally displaced and menacing war-like conditions exist in Afghanistan. Three decades of war reduced Afghanistan to a shambles. Propitious developments in 2001 offered some cheer. But rampant corruption, political infighting pushed the nation into abyss. Resurgence of Taliban vanquished all hopes of Aghanistan’s revival. Despite the reprehensible use of force by Pakistan, the atrocities faced by Afghan refugees is hardly eliciting any global attention.

By Ramaharitha Pusarla