Afghans leave Pakistan in droves before deportation deadline

The United Nations refugee agency has warned of a looming "human rights catastrophe" as droves of Afghans living in Pakistan are forced to return back home after the government issued a deadline for them to leave by October 31.

The UNHCR and International Organization for Migration said tens of thousands of Afghans have already left Pakistan between October 3 and October 15.

"We urge the Pakistan authorities to suspend forcible returns of Afghan nationals before it is too late to avoid a human rights catastrophe," the two agencies said.

"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 policy has also been condemned by Pakistani Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai.

"Afghan refugees — children, women, men, elderly — fleeing Taliban persecution deserve support, dignity, and safety, not further obstacles and harassment," she said on social media.

"I echo UN experts' call and urge the Pakistani government to reconsider its rushed policy of mass deportation."

Millions of Afghans in Pakistan

For years, Afghans fleeing war and the Taliban have sought refuge in neighboring Pakistan.

According to the Pakistani government, around 4.4 million Afghan refugees live in the country and 1.7 million of them do not have valid documents.

Pakistan insists that its new mass deportation of illegal migrants is not aimed at one specific nationality.

It also claims that nobody who is arrested will be mistreated.

Islamabad has long accused the Taliban in Afghanistan of sheltering militants who go back and forth across the two countries' borders to carry out attacks against Pakistani security forces. The Taliban denies this.

zc/jcg (AP, dpa)