ISLAMABAD: With only a day to go until the government’s deadline for illegal immigrants to leave Pakistan expires, the Foreign Office (FO) on Monday said that the decision to expel such individuals was in exercise of the country’s domestic laws and “compliant with applicable international norms and principles”.
The statement was issued in response to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which had called on the Pakistani government to “suspend forcible returns of Afghan nationals before it is too late to avoid a human rights catastrophe”.
While the government’s decision had prompted criticism from Afghanistan, Pakistan has said that it is not aimed at any particular ethnic group.
“We call on them to continue providing protection to those in need and ensure that any future returns are safe, dignified and voluntary, and fully consistent with international law,” OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement from Geneva on Friday.
“We believe many of those facing deportation will be at grave risk of human rights violations if returned to Afghanistan, including arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, cruel and other inhuman treatment,” the spokesperson said.
“We are extremely alarmed by Pakistan’s announcement that it plans to deport ‘undocumented’ foreign nationals remaining in the country after Nov 1, a measure that will disproportionately impact more than 1.4 million undocumented Afghans who remain in Pakistan,” she said.
In a statement issued today, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that Pakistan had seen the press statement issued by OHCHR.
It said that the repatriation planned applied to “all illegal foreigners residing in Pakistan, irrespective of their nationality and country of origin”.
“The decision is in exercise of Pakistan’s sovereign domestic laws, and compliant with applicable international norms and principles,” Baloch said.
The FO spokesperson added that all foreign nationals legally residing/registered in Pakistan were “beyond the purview of this plan”.
“The government of Pakistan takes its commitments towards protection and safety needs of those in vulnerable situations with utmost seriousness. Our record of the last forty years in hosting millions of our Afghan brothers and sisters speaks for itself,” she said.
Baloch also called on the international community to scale-up efforts to address “protracted refugee situations through advancing durable solutions as a matter of priority”.
“Pakistan will continue to work with our international partners to this end,” Baloch said.
