Pakistan crackdown on Afghan refugees leaves ‘four dead’ and thousands in cells

Refugees are reportedly dying in Pakistani prisons, and children are being arrested and tied together with ropes, as a wave of detentions and deportations spreads fearamong the hundreds of thousands of Afghans who have crossed the border since the Taliban took power, according to media reports.

According to lawyers representing Afghans in detention, at least four people have died in custody, and thousands more, including children, are being held in prisons as Pakistan hardens its stance against Afghan citizens.

The most recent death in custody was a 50-year-old Afghan man who was refused hospital treatment while he waited for a judge to hear his case, according to Moniza Kakar, a Karachi-based human rights lawyer who has been fighting to stop Afghan asylum seekers and refugees being deported to Afghanistan.

Kakar claimed that other Afghans in detention were being mistreated, and the judicial process was not being carried out properly by judges assigned to their cases.

“In this crackdown, registered and unregistered Afghans are facing the brunt,” she said.

“More than 800 Afghans are in prisons in Karachi and across Sindh province alone, and at least 1,100 have been deported who had no documents.”

Since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, about 250,000 Afghans have arrived in Pakistan. Last summer, it began a programme to send undocumented migrants back across the border.

Since then, arrests and deportations have increased with more than 600 Afghans allegedly deported in just three days in January, and thousands more detained.