ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — More than 1,000 Afghan migrants have been arrested in Islamabad over the past week, the Taliban-run embassy in Pakistan said on Wednesday.
The embassy reported that the arrests occurred between Jan. 1 and Jan. 8, with 142 of those detained having been deported to Afghanistan. Among those deported, the embassy noted, were individuals who held United Nations refugee tokens or whose visas had recently expired.
“It is worth mentioning that the deported individuals either had ‘UNHCR tokens’ or their visas had expired,” the Taliban statement said, adding that 50 Afghan nationals remain in special detention centers. The embassy said efforts were underway to secure their release.
Taliban said Pakistani authorities have targeted Afghan migrants unfairly and alleged that the police in Islamabad have been harassing and extorting migrants.
“In some cases, bribes of up to 150,000 Pakistani rupees have been taken,” the embassy claimed, noting that it had shared documentation of these incidents with Pakistani officials.
In recent days, Pakistani authorities have intensified their crackdown on Afghan migrants, raiding homes and detaining individuals across the country. Afghan migrants living in Pakistan have said that even those with valid documents have been apprehended.
Pakistani officials have not commented on the Taliban’s remarks on harassment and extortion of migrants, nor have they disclosed the reasons for the recent arrests. The country has struggled to manage the growing number of Afghan migrants, many of whom fled following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent Taliban takeover.
