May 14, 2026
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
Two Afghan refugee brothers, who say they have previously worked with US forces when they were in Afghanistan, have secured a temporary reprieve from the Peshawar High Court, while at the same time the Pakistan government privately acknowledges that thousands of Afghan nationals face grave risks if returned to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The PHC has issued a stay order halting the deportation of the two Afghan brothers who claim they used to work alongside American forces in Afghanistan, and are now in the middle of a resettlement process to Canada. The ruling offers a rare legal lifeline at a time when tens of thousands of Afghans in Pakistan are being forcibly returned to a country under Taliban rule.
A bench comprising Justice Wiqar Ahmad and Justice Babar Sattar issued the stay after hearing a petition jointly filed by brothers Masihullah and Ghobar, both Afghan nationals currently residing in the Mansehra district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Their counsel, Advocate Malik Shahbaz Khan, argued that deporting them at this stage would not only endanger their lives but would also derail an ongoing protection process that is at an advanced stage.
The court has sought a response from the federal interior ministry, among other respondents, and adjourned the hearing to June 29, extending the stay on deportation until that date.
‘Serious threats to their lives’
According to the petition, the brothers had collaborated with US forces in Afghanistan prior to the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 — a fact that, their lawyer argues, now places them in direct danger of persecution. They have since approached the Canadian embassy for protection and resettlement, completing an initial processing and interview stage. They are currently awaiting final confirmation, with email correspondence between the brothers and the Canadian embassy cited as evidence of the pending process.
“Any coercive measures at this stage, including deportation, would not only endanger their lives but would frustrate their ongoing protection process,” Advocate Khan told the court.
Pakistan acknowledges high-risk cases
The case of Masihullah and Ghobar comes against the backdrop of a striking, if quietly made, admission from Pakistan’s own foreign ministry. In a letter to the Global Strategic Litigation Council in December 2025, the ministry acknowledged that certain Afghan nationals in Pakistan — including women and children — face serious vulnerabilities upon return to Afghanistan. It confirmed that it had already identified several thousand individuals as “high-risk,” who will not be subject to immediate repatriation.
The ministry further noted that the international community has committed to resettling 120,000 Afghan nationals currently in Pakistan in third countries. Of those, 88,000 have been resettled so far, leaving around 32,000 still awaiting confirmation from host countries. In 2023, US officials disclosed that the American embassy in Pakistan had shared a list of more than 25,000 Afghan individuals with the government who were in US resettlement and relocation pipelines.
That private acknowledgement stands in sharp contrast to what rights groups describe as an indiscriminate and accelerating deportation campaign on the ground.
A crackdown with no exceptions
Pakistan has been deporting Afghan nationals since September 2023, but rights organisations say the campaign has sharply intensified in 2026, with deportations now sweeping up even those who hold valid documentation. According to Amnesty International, more than 1.9 million Afghans have been deported since 2023. Human Rights Watch reports that over 146,000 Afghans were deported in 2026 alone.
Human Rights Watch has documented how police have arrested Afghans in the course of routine daily activities, confiscated their belongings and demanded bribes. Those unable to pay have been detained and deported. The organisation has flagged that many of those forcibly returned — including journalists, human rights defenders and activists — face serious risks in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The situation has been particularly dangerous for media workers. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports that Pakistani authorities have forcibly returned at least nine Afghan journalists since the start of 2026 — some of them holding valid visas.
The case of Khadija Haidary
The precariousness faced even by those with complete documentation was laid bare in April, when Afghan journalist Khadija Haidary was detained at the airport — for the third time — as she attempted to board a flight to Tanzania. She was arrested along with her husband and four-year-old son and transferred to the Haji Camp deportation centre in Islamabad, despite holding a valid exit permit authorising her departure from Pakistan.
Haidary, who has been living in Pakistan since 2024 following entry on a medical visa, is affiliated with a women-led news outlet that reports on human rights, women’s issues, and the LGBTQ community in Afghanistan. After spending three days in the deportation centre, she was released and permitted to board a flight to Tanzania following intervention by international journalist organisations and the UNHCR.
Zahra Nader, editor of the outlet, said on social media that Haidary and her family had been offloaded from flights on three separate occasions since 26 February 2026, despite possessing all required travel documents including a valid Tanzanian visa.
Her ordeal has come to encapsulate a broader, dangerous reality for Afghan refugees in Pakistan: that even those with valid passports, visas, exit permits and confirmed resettlement pathways can be detained, fingerprinted and threatened with deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Courts overwhelmed as Afghans seek legal protection
The legal system is straining under the weight of the crisis. Legal experts say there has been an extraordinary surge in petitions filed by Afghan nationals at the Peshawar High Court in the wake of the ongoing repatriation drive, with dozens of individuals now approaching the court daily seeking protection orders. Deportations have ensnared not just undocumented migrants but also holders of Proof of Registration (PoR) cards and Afghan Citizen Cards — documents that had previously offered a degree of protection.