Afghan-owned businesses shut in Pak amid mass deportation

Rawalpindi, April 8 (IANS) As Pakistan intensifies mass deportation of Afghan refugees, the businesses owned by Afghans in the commercial centres of Rawalpindi city and cantonment areas have started to shut down.

As the deadline of March 31 arrived, thousands of Afghan refugees were deported back to Afghanistan, according to local media reports.

The repatriation affected a large number of Afghans who have lived in Pakistan for decades, including many born in Pakistan and have never lived in Afghanistan.

Afghan shopkeepers in Rawalpindi have started selling their goods, locking up their stores, and disappearing, according to the country’s leading daily, The Express Tribune.

Additionally, various types of vehicles and heavy machinery previously used by Afghan nationals are also being sold off.

Many Afghan-owned shops in various areas of the city are either closed or have been sold, and several well-known Afghan hotels in the city and cantonment are no longer in operation, with their signs changed.

Meanwhile, forcibly deported individuals stated that they were arrested by Pakistani police while at work and deported to Afghanistan, leaving behind their businesses and family members.

“I ran a small hotel business at the fruit market. The police raided me, detained me in Haji Camp in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for four nights, and now deported me via Torkham.” Afghan media outlet TOLO news reported quoting a deportee, Gul Mohammad, as saying.

Last month, Shujauddin, an Afghan migrant living in Rawalpindi with his six-member family, said he faces deportation despite holding a valid visa. In preparation, he has put his household items up for auction.

“I rented this shop a year ago for a huge sum—about 1.8 million Pakistani rupees—and invested in it. But now, because of the government’s decision, I am being forced to move to another city,” he said.

“If I don’t leave, they will arrest and deport us back to Afghanistan. I have put all my shop’s goods up for auction at very low prices,” the Afghan refugee added.

A total of 4,966 Afghan refugees left for Afghanistan on Sunday night, Pakistan's leading daily Dawn reported, quoting an official report.

Meanwhile, the officials privy to the repatriation process said that since the deportation process continued till late at night, the number of Afghan refugees who left on Monday would be disclosed later.

In addition to the deportations, a police crackdown in Rawalpindi continued targeting Afghan nationals residing in the country. Pakistan's law enforcement agencies on Sunday in Rawalpindi rounded up 736 Afghan nationals, including 140 women and 164 children, and shifted them to the Afghan refugee camp near Golra Mor. Of the 736 people, 179 were deported to Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s deportation policy has come under scrutiny with several international organisations condemning the act.

They have raised concern over the grave risks faced by the refugees upon their return amid uncertainties in Afghanistan. The Pakistani government had dismissed concerns raised by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other agencies regarding the mass repatriation of Afghan refugees.

--IANS

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