Afghanistan: The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations has announced plans to hold a trilateral meeting with Pakistan and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to address the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
The ministry also reported that over the past two weeks, more than 200 Afghan families have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan.
Abdul Mutalib Haqqani, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations, said about the trilateral meeting: “It has been agreed that a trilateral meeting will be held between the Islamic Emirate, Pakistan, and UNHCR, but the exact date has not yet been determined.”
With the worsening of relations between Kabul and Islamabad, Pakistan has intensified pressure on Afghan refugees. Over the past 14 days, incidents of deportation, arrests, and mistreatment of Afghan refugees in Pakistan have increased.
At the same time, the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations reported a meeting between officials from the Islamic Emirate’s embassy in Pakistan, including the embassy’s refugee affairs attaché, and the Chief of Police in Islamabad. According to a statement from the ministry, the challenges faced by Afghan refugees in Pakistan were discussed during this meeting.
Ehsanullah Ahmadzai, a refugee rights activist, told TOLOnews: “The governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan must jointly establish a mechanism to address these issues so that the problems faced by Afghan refugees in Pakistan can be resolved quickly.”
