Born in Pakistan but not Pakistanis ?

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Written by Khushal Khan

According to a recent United Nations’ survey, there are around 1.6 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan. The influx of Afghan refugees began in the 1980s after the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, and the number of refugees in Pakistan has continuously increased through the decades as Afghanistan continued to be engulfed by war. Most of these refugees live in very poor conditions and face all sorts of problems on a daily basis. The legality of their presence in Pakistan gets challenged every now and then, and the government of Pakistan has tried to re-situate them back to Afghanistan. Most of the refugees, it seems, however, refuse to go back to Afghanistan because of the perceived political uncertainty and unrest there. While this concern is understandable, it has to be understood that they are not doing any better by continuing to stay in Pakistan where they get persecuted every now and then by the various state institutions of Pakistan. Most of the problems that the Afghan refugees face in Pakistan are at the hands of the Police. Because of not being citizens of Pakistan and because of no set legal frameworks to provide shelter to them from any injustices meted out to them, these refugees continue to suffer various forms of human rights abuses.

The government of Pakistan has made attempts to register Afghan refugees but the effort has not been as efficient as it could have been. There is now that set of Afghan refugees who were born in Pakistan and as such are eligible to become Pakistani citizens as per Section 4 of Pakistani Citizenship Act of 1951, which states that:

'Citizenship by birth: Anyone born in Pakistan after this Act is a Pakistani Citizen (Except if the father is considered an enemy of the state or the father has immunity from legal process )'.

Unfortunately, though, most of the Afghan refugees are not aware of this law and the government of Pakistan, too, has not been keen in granting citizenships to Afghan refugees as per this Act. A majority of the Afghan refugees are Pashtuns followed by Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras. Though very rare, there are instances where Afghans have formed relations with Pakistanis through marriages, as many Afghans are aware, and most such instances are primarily restricted to the Pashtuns as they share a common heritage, history, culture and linguistic values. Most Afghans living in Pakistan have no access to proper education, work, health and other such fundamental amenities. This is mainly due to the fact that Pakistan is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of Refugees as ratified by the United Nations General Assembly. The issue gets further compounded because of the lack of a clear and a coherent strategy by Pakistan within the ambit of its own legal and constitutional framework to deal with refugees in general. All of these factors play a pivotal role towards the ways in which Afghans are treated by Pakistan and provide explanation for the ways in which Afghan refugees are openly harassed.

The current turmoil and wave of extremism that has gripped Pakistan has also effected the lives of Afghan refugees. It is very common for the law enforcement agencies of Pakistan to arrest Afghans on suspicion of being complicit in the various acts of terrorism etc. Since they do not have a clearly outlined legal status, Afghans end up suffering more once they are picked up by these agencies. All of these factors would lead one to believe that it might be better for Afghans to either go back to Afghanistan or to move to another country where they might have access to a better standard of living, but it is not that simple for a host of reasons. Keeping this in mind, it might help if the government of Pakistan were to finally devise a coherent legal strategy that deals with the Afghans living there and that provides them with some form of protection from being exploited or harassed. The government of Afghanistan, too, needs to play an active role in this regard and at the very least needs to try and reach out to the Afghans in Pakistan to help them in any way or form they possibly can, though this might not be as easy given the sheer numbers of refugees at present. But an attempt of such sorts, nonetheless, might still help.

Khushal Khan is a member of the Information and Communications Cell of the Awami National Party (ANP). He was previously affiliated with the Bacha Khan Research Center in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as a Research Associate. He earned his Master’s Degree in Sociology from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India.

source: http://www.pashtunwomenvp.com/index.php/2013-01-28-03-21-27/social/210-afghan-refugees-in-pakistan