JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Hundreds of Afghan families are returning to the country through Torkham every day after Pakistan launched a crackdown on illegally residing refugees.
The returning families complain the Pakistani police mistreated them and snatched their belongings.
“We came here empty-handed, police snatched everything from us. They imprisoned our women and then deported us.”
Amir Khan, 65, a resident of Logar province, who had been living in Chakwal area of Pakistan’s Punjab province for the past forty years, has recently returned to the country.
He told Pajhwok News Agency in Torkham: “Pakistan has treated us very badly. Our children came hungry. This morning they ate dried bread. They took money from us by force, our goods and we returned empty-handed.”
Another returnee, Mohammad Omar, also said: “If someone had a business or had lent money, they left everything behind. They would give us an hour to pack up and go.”
He said he was happy to have returned to his country and was well-received and treated by his fellow Afghans at Torkham.
Similarly, Ibrahim, another Afghan refugee who recently returned from Pakistan where he lived in Faisalabad, says that the Pakistani police arrested women and their husbands at midnight.
He said the women spent four days in jails before they were released and deported.
On the other hand, officials of the Department of Refugees and Repatriation Affairs in Torkham say that many facilities have been arranged for the refugees in various fields and that accommodation, food, health and other services have been provided in the temporary refugee settlement called Omari.
Mullah Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal, head of the Omari refugee camp in Torkham, told Pajhwok Afghan News that about a thousand tents and about fifty houses have been built for the temporary settlement of the refugees in this camp.
He added that the refugees were being assisted in the fields of health and communications and they were also provided with financial assistance.
The refugees are returning to their areas without any problems after registration and biometrics, he said.
He also noted that the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) has suspended its activities due to budget cuts and expressed the hope that this organization will resume its activities.
This comes at a time when the Islamic Emirate and international organizations have called on Pakistan to immediately stop the forced deportation of Afghan refugees.
According to reports, there are currently about three million Afghans living in Pakistan, including one million who do not have legal stay documents.
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