Pakistani police arrest Afghan migrants from Islamabad homes

ISLAMABAD (Pajhwok): Pakistani police raided the houses of Afghan refugees in Islamabad, the nation’s capital, and arrested many, some refugees said on Saturday.

They claimed police forcibly entered homes of Afghan refugees, harassed them and took away some with them in Islamabad (B17) town this morning.

Osman Fazil, a resident of the town and an Afghan refugee, told Pajhwok Afghan News police entered their houses before dawn and insulted and arrested some Afghans.

“Some people were coming from mosque and youth from gym when police arrested them at 4:00am. People were sleeping when police they knocked at the doors of their houses and told them show visas and passports and they had visas and others had family visas”: he added.

According to him, about 300 Afghan families live in the town.

Hamid Forotan, another resident, told Pajhwok that police arrested hundreds of people.

“It was early in the morning when police raided our houses, those who had visas and those who did not have all were taken away. I think three to four hundreds people have been arrested,” Forotan said.

Rafiullah, another resident, told Pajhwok police also detained him today.

“My visa is valid for six months, first I showed them the visa, they said it is ok, but arrested me and released me  when I paid 15,000 rupees,” he alleged.

These Afghan refugees asked Pakistan and UNHCR to stop police from cruelly treating them.

Pakistan decided to deport illegal Afghan refugees on November 1 and nearly 900,000 afghan refugees have since been evicted.

hz/ma