Political situation in Pakistan

Pakistan sends bulldozers to demolish Afghans' mud houses 

Pakistani authorities are demolishing the homes of many Afghans on Wednesday in the country's major crackdown on illegal settlements and immigrants. Images from the outskirts of the capital Islamabad show a community of mud houses destroyed and people gathering their belongings. 

 

The BBC has published a video where a bulldozer demolishes the houses in a refugee camp. The Afghan refugee Nazak Mir has lived there for twelve years.  

 

- They just came here and gave us the order to evacuate. But where are we going? It is cold there in Afghanistan. It is snowing, and there is nothing for us there, he says.  

 

Human rights groups are strongly critical of Pakistan, which demands that around two million Afghans leave the country. The deadline expired today. 

 

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Afghans are arrested and deported: "We are determined" 

The arrests and deportations of Afghans living in Pakistan illegally have now begun. Strikes took place in several places on Wednesday, including in the port city of Karachi, the authorities say according to AP.  

 

Pakistan has demanded that all Afghans without proper documentation leave the country. At midnight, the deadline expired for people to leave voluntarily.  

 

“Today we said goodbye to 64 Afghan citizens as they began their journey home. This action is a proof of Pakistan's determination," writes Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti on X on Wednesday.  

 

Over 100,000 Afghans are said to have left Pakistan in the past two weeks, but according to the UN, as many as two million Afghans live in Pakistan. About 600,000 of them are said to have arrived there since the Taliban seized power, while others have lived there for decades.