Afghan refugees tell of their eviction from Pakistan

Ever since the December attack on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan has become increasingly hostile to Afghan refugees. As a result more than twice as many have returned to Afghanistan as in the whole of the 2014

For 35 years, Hoji Karim had eked out a living in the mountainous region of Pakistani Kashmir. Having fled the war in his native Afghanistan, the elderly man thought that, across the border, in the valleys of the lower Himalayas, he had finally found somewhere safe.

But two months ago that all changed.

"The Pakistani police came to our house and told us to leave," he said. "They threw all our things onto the street."

"Pakistani officials should not be scapegoating Afghans because of the Taliban's atrocities in Peshawar," said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "It is inhumane, not to mention unlawful, to return Afghans to places they may face harm and not protect them from harassment and abuse."

The rate of spontaneous returns of undocumented Afghans increased from an average of 59 a day in 2014 to 651 in the 2015. An IOM official said that many of the unregistered Afghan returnees reported that they had left Pakistan to escape harassment following the Peshawar attack.  Read More

Afghan refugees tell of their eviction from Pakistan