Tweet
NOWSHERA, Pakistan — A few
hundred men took to the
streets in a suburb of this city
early this month, furiously
chanting for the expulsion of
neighbors they described as interlopers.
The objects of their ire were
Afghan refugees, millions of
whom reside here in Pakistan.
They are hardly newcomers
— many fled war, Russian occupation or Taliban rule
years or even decades ago.
Many were born in Pakistan.
But the recent demonstration
was a sign of bubbling
discontent about Afghans in Pakistan, who comprise the
world’s largest refugee
population. While their
presence has long been a
source of tension, Pakistani
politicians and the media are increasingly exaggerating
their numbers and identifying
them as a problem that must
be solved as the neighboring
nations eye the finale of the
U.S.-led Afghan war, remote as that seems for now.
On an official visit to Australia
last month, Pakistani Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
called on the international
community to help repatriate Afghans, who he said were
“causing numerous
difficulties” and spreading
polio. In a recent interview,
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
accused the refugees of being “involved in criminal
activities,” and said sending
Afghans home was among
Pakistan’s priorities.
The spotlight on Afghan
refugees comes as the ever- wary neighbors trade barbs
about cross-border violence
and a potential negotiated
settlement to the war in
Afghanistan. Afghan officials,
like their U.S. counterparts, have blamed Pakistan for
fueling the Taliban
insurgency, a claim Pakistan
denies. But Pakistan wants a
key role in reconciliation, and
the refugees — who by most accounts Pakistan has hosted
fairly graciously — could
provide leverage.
At the same time, persistent
violence has led to a decrease
in refugee returns to Afghanistan, and there is
scant sign that those
remaining will soon leave.
Amid a failing economy and
political jockeying ahead of
2013 elections in Pakistan, analysts say Afghans are
convenient targets. Indeed,
the argument here echoes the
U.S. immigration debate, with
concerns about foreigners
who commit crimes, steal jobs and fail to assimilate.
“We have been treating them
as our brothers,” said Sher
Bahadur, 64, one Nowshera
resident who joined the recent
demonstration, which took place after a fight between
Pakistanis and Afghans. “Now
the situation is so bad that we
fear they have the might,
power and resources to
displace us.” The complaints are not new,
but the tenor has alarmed
Afghan officials. One senior
Afghan official, speaking on
the condition of anonymity,
said Pakistan is showing “early signs of new pressure”
over refugees. The official said
it was unclear whether the
motivation is a desire to see
Afghans leave, win additional
refugee aid or blame Afghans for Taliban activity inside
Pakistan.
According to the United
Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees, 1.7 million
registered Afghan refugees live in Pakistan; the
government says the figure is
around 2 million. Another 1
million are believed to be in
Pakistan illegally, said
Habibullah Khan, secretary of the government’s States and
Frontiers Regions Division. In
the first 10 months of 2011,
43,000 Afghan refugees
returned home, a figure that
was 59 percent lower than the same period last year, the
UNHCR said.
The majority of refugees are
ethnic Pashtuns who have
blended into Pakistan’s
Pashtun-dominant belt along the border, which has long
been poorly patrolled and
traversed by migrant
populations, including
militants. Afghanistan, in fact,
does not recognize the border, nor do many
Pashtuns.
Originally housed in camps,
most refugees now live in
regular neighborhoods,
where some have become fixtures in the transportation,
clothing and carpet industries.
Most are poorly-paid laborers.
There is little doubt the
Afghans’ presence has
affected Pakistan’s weak economy, but just how is
debatable. Pakistan hosts
more refugees for every dollar
of per capita income than any
other nation, which makes it
difficult to absorb and support them, according to the UNHCR.
But Afghans also contribute,
said Rustam Shah Mohmand,
Pakistan’s former refugee
commissioner.
“Pakistan gets foreign exchange” from Afghan
carpet exporters, Mohmand
said. “Many have relatives in
the West who send
remittances. . . . They provide
cheap farm labor to the landowners in the frontier.”
Yet many Pakistanis depict
Afghans as drug- and gun-
runners, in part because they
are often arrested after
militant attacks and violent crimes. The accusations are
unfair, human rights
advocates say.
Last year, the Pakistani
government decided that all
Afghan refugees would be “voluntarily” repatriated after
the end of 2012. What that
means remains unclear. A plan
to offer visas will probably
apply to only about 150,000
refugees, Khan said. But Tim Irwin, a UNHCR spokesman,
said “there’s certainly no talk
of anyone being forced back.”
There is such talk in
Nowshera, however, where
thousands of Afghans live. The recent fight broke out
with a quarrel between
Afghan and Pakistani youths,
after which adults jumped into
the fray, residents said.
Pakistanis — who refer to themselves as “locals” — said
Afghans attacked with rods,
wounding several, then
followed them to the hospital
with Kalashnikovs.
Last week, dozens of Pakistani men packed into one elder’s
home and recited grievances:
Afghans keep to themselves,
and they insulted Pakistan
during the brawl. They are
rich and buy off police. They are bad drivers.
“We are Pashtun, but we are
not Afghan. We are Pakistani,”
said Mohammed Akbar, 31. A
man sitting on a sofa
interjected: “The Afghans should go back!”
Yet a visit to Afghan elders —
at the grand home of a
clothing importer — revealed
how indelibly the immigrants
have become part of the landscape. Several had lived in
Pakistan for 40 years and held
dual citizenship. The fight,
they shrugged, was a mere
scuffle being exploited by
Pakistani community leaders for political gain.
“We are mixing. But whenever
such an incident happens,
they label us Kabulis,” or
Kabul natives, said refugee
Jamil Khan, 23, who participated in the fight.
Both sides said the issue
would be settled by elders,
according to local tradition.
But the Pakistanis said
tensions would remain rife. “Nobody believes that they
will go,” said Liaqat Gilani, a
former district mayor.
A short drive away at a former
Afghan refugee camp that is
now a squalid slum, truck owner Watan Khan, 39, said
he has no plan to return to the
home town he left in 1978, in
Afghanistan’s Taliban-riddled
Logar province. Therefore, he
said, he has no right to complain about Pakistani
treatment.
“Even if our lives are not as
good as locals, we have no
choice,” Khan said. “We are
living in someone else’s land.”
hundred men took to the
streets in a suburb of this city
early this month, furiously
chanting for the expulsion of
neighbors they described as interlopers.
The objects of their ire were
Afghan refugees, millions of
whom reside here in Pakistan.
They are hardly newcomers
— many fled war, Russian occupation or Taliban rule
years or even decades ago.
Many were born in Pakistan.
But the recent demonstration
was a sign of bubbling
discontent about Afghans in Pakistan, who comprise the
world’s largest refugee
population. While their
presence has long been a
source of tension, Pakistani
politicians and the media are increasingly exaggerating
their numbers and identifying
them as a problem that must
be solved as the neighboring
nations eye the finale of the
U.S.-led Afghan war, remote as that seems for now.
On an official visit to Australia
last month, Pakistani Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
called on the international
community to help repatriate Afghans, who he said were
“causing numerous
difficulties” and spreading
polio. In a recent interview,
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
accused the refugees of being “involved in criminal
activities,” and said sending
Afghans home was among
Pakistan’s priorities.
The spotlight on Afghan
refugees comes as the ever- wary neighbors trade barbs
about cross-border violence
and a potential negotiated
settlement to the war in
Afghanistan. Afghan officials,
like their U.S. counterparts, have blamed Pakistan for
fueling the Taliban
insurgency, a claim Pakistan
denies. But Pakistan wants a
key role in reconciliation, and
the refugees — who by most accounts Pakistan has hosted
fairly graciously — could
provide leverage.
At the same time, persistent
violence has led to a decrease
in refugee returns to Afghanistan, and there is
scant sign that those
remaining will soon leave.
Amid a failing economy and
political jockeying ahead of
2013 elections in Pakistan, analysts say Afghans are
convenient targets. Indeed,
the argument here echoes the
U.S. immigration debate, with
concerns about foreigners
who commit crimes, steal jobs and fail to assimilate.
“We have been treating them
as our brothers,” said Sher
Bahadur, 64, one Nowshera
resident who joined the recent
demonstration, which took place after a fight between
Pakistanis and Afghans. “Now
the situation is so bad that we
fear they have the might,
power and resources to
displace us.” The complaints are not new,
but the tenor has alarmed
Afghan officials. One senior
Afghan official, speaking on
the condition of anonymity,
said Pakistan is showing “early signs of new pressure”
over refugees. The official said
it was unclear whether the
motivation is a desire to see
Afghans leave, win additional
refugee aid or blame Afghans for Taliban activity inside
Pakistan.
According to the United
Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees, 1.7 million
registered Afghan refugees live in Pakistan; the
government says the figure is
around 2 million. Another 1
million are believed to be in
Pakistan illegally, said
Habibullah Khan, secretary of the government’s States and
Frontiers Regions Division. In
the first 10 months of 2011,
43,000 Afghan refugees
returned home, a figure that
was 59 percent lower than the same period last year, the
UNHCR said.
The majority of refugees are
ethnic Pashtuns who have
blended into Pakistan’s
Pashtun-dominant belt along the border, which has long
been poorly patrolled and
traversed by migrant
populations, including
militants. Afghanistan, in fact,
does not recognize the border, nor do many
Pashtuns.
Originally housed in camps,
most refugees now live in
regular neighborhoods,
where some have become fixtures in the transportation,
clothing and carpet industries.
Most are poorly-paid laborers.
There is little doubt the
Afghans’ presence has
affected Pakistan’s weak economy, but just how is
debatable. Pakistan hosts
more refugees for every dollar
of per capita income than any
other nation, which makes it
difficult to absorb and support them, according to the UNHCR.
But Afghans also contribute,
said Rustam Shah Mohmand,
Pakistan’s former refugee
commissioner.
“Pakistan gets foreign exchange” from Afghan
carpet exporters, Mohmand
said. “Many have relatives in
the West who send
remittances. . . . They provide
cheap farm labor to the landowners in the frontier.”
Yet many Pakistanis depict
Afghans as drug- and gun-
runners, in part because they
are often arrested after
militant attacks and violent crimes. The accusations are
unfair, human rights
advocates say.
Last year, the Pakistani
government decided that all
Afghan refugees would be “voluntarily” repatriated after
the end of 2012. What that
means remains unclear. A plan
to offer visas will probably
apply to only about 150,000
refugees, Khan said. But Tim Irwin, a UNHCR spokesman,
said “there’s certainly no talk
of anyone being forced back.”
There is such talk in
Nowshera, however, where
thousands of Afghans live. The recent fight broke out
with a quarrel between
Afghan and Pakistani youths,
after which adults jumped into
the fray, residents said.
Pakistanis — who refer to themselves as “locals” — said
Afghans attacked with rods,
wounding several, then
followed them to the hospital
with Kalashnikovs.
Last week, dozens of Pakistani men packed into one elder’s
home and recited grievances:
Afghans keep to themselves,
and they insulted Pakistan
during the brawl. They are
rich and buy off police. They are bad drivers.
“We are Pashtun, but we are
not Afghan. We are Pakistani,”
said Mohammed Akbar, 31. A
man sitting on a sofa
interjected: “The Afghans should go back!”
Yet a visit to Afghan elders —
at the grand home of a
clothing importer — revealed
how indelibly the immigrants
have become part of the landscape. Several had lived in
Pakistan for 40 years and held
dual citizenship. The fight,
they shrugged, was a mere
scuffle being exploited by
Pakistani community leaders for political gain.
“We are mixing. But whenever
such an incident happens,
they label us Kabulis,” or
Kabul natives, said refugee
Jamil Khan, 23, who participated in the fight.
Both sides said the issue
would be settled by elders,
according to local tradition.
But the Pakistanis said
tensions would remain rife. “Nobody believes that they
will go,” said Liaqat Gilani, a
former district mayor.
A short drive away at a former
Afghan refugee camp that is
now a squalid slum, truck owner Watan Khan, 39, said
he has no plan to return to the
home town he left in 1978, in
Afghanistan’s Taliban-riddled
Logar province. Therefore, he
said, he has no right to complain about Pakistani
treatment.
“Even if our lives are not as
good as locals, we have no
choice,” Khan said. “We are
living in someone else’s land.”
Comment