April 5, 2025
By Islam Gul Afridi
KHYBER
Forty-five-year-old Malook Khan and his family have taken a long and arduous journey from Punjab’s Narowal district to finally reach Torkham, a place situated at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. He finally takes rest from his travelling here.
“I just had breakfast, and now I’ll be crossing over to Afghanistan with the children,” he says in a tired voice. “We made our living in Pakistan by selling scrap. When I first came here, I was still in my mother’s arms. Now at this stage of life, I’m being made to return. But I dont even have a home there.”
He has no land and no livelihood waiting for him in a country that is supposed to be his home, but it is a place he has no knowledge of.
The Pakistani government set a final deadline of March 31 for the approximately 850,000 Afghan citizens (ACC card holders and illegal immigrants) residing in the country. The process of their “voluntary” return began on April 1. According to official statistics from the provincial interior ministry, only 723 families have gone to Afghanistan from April 1 to April 4, most of them from various areas of Punjab.
‘Police took away women and children in midnight raid’
Like Malook, there is also Mohabbat Khan, who has reached Torkham with his distressed family.
“During the Eid holidays, we had asked the police for just a five-day grace period,” he says with pain in his voice. “But one evening when we returned from the doctor, we found that police had entered our home and forcibly detained our women and young children. When we reached the police station, they released them, but we felt extremely humiliated so that very night we hurriedly packed our belongings and got into a vehicle to take us to the border.”
‘No home, no arrangements for assistance’
Thirty year old Hijratullah also ran a small scrap business in Sialkot.
“I decided to return to Afghanistan due to the constant fear of arrest,” he says, his eyes glistening with tears. “But our dire financial situation has forced me to leave my elderly father behind. Someone said we would get help from across the border… but we didn’t even have enough money for vehicle fare.”
‘Rs 42,000 for a mini-truck’
Syed Wali Shah, who is transporting all his household items from Jhelum to Torkham, sighs as he tells his story.
“I had to pay 42,000 rupees to travel in the mini-truck, and spent another 25,000 rupees on a separate vehicle for the women and children. We covered the expense of this entire journey by taking loans, and now who knows when we’ll be able to repay this debt,” he sighs.
‘Living under the open sky… children are falling ill’
A woman waiting at the Torkham border, who out of fear does not want to reveal her name, says with a trembling voice, “There’s no shelter here, no clean drinking water, no medical facilities. Our children are falling ill in the rain and scorching sun. Both governments claim that help will be available in Afghanistan, but we’re barely surviving just getting to this point.”
As it usually happens in such camps, women and girls also have issues in accessing hygenic, private conditions for sanitation.
Meanwhile official sources at Torkham have confirmed in clear terms that “no vehicle can enter Afghanistan without Temporary Travel Documents (TAD).” They have sternly warned transporters to “complete all documentation before taking families across, otherwise they will be stopped at the border and face difficulties.”
No forced expulsion, only voluntary return: KP CM
Ali Amin Gandapur passionately stated during a special press conference in Islamabad that they will not forcibly expel any refugee.
“The federal government’s policy is wrong on humanitarian grounds… serious negotiations are ongoing with Afghanistan on this matter,” he said.
Previously, the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had strongly opposed the federal government’s decision to expel refugees, and a high-level meeting was convened on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s directive to address these concerns. According to inside sources, after the meeting, Ali Amin assured the federal government of all possible cooperation in the repatriation of refugees. For the past several days, police and other security agencies in various areas of Peshawar have been continuously warning Afghan refugees to leave Pakistan as soon as possible.