'It means death': Afghan women's rights activists face deportation from Pakistan
Source: The Guardian
‘It means death’: Afghan women’s rights activists face deportation from Pakistan
Police go door-to-door arresting Afghans as government pledges to send millions back home to Taliban rule
Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi
Sun 30 Mar 2025 05.00 BST
Last modified on Sun 30 Mar 2025 13.40 BST
More than 50 prominent female Afghan women’s rights activists sheltering in Pakistan are facing deportation home, where they fear they will be imprisoned or killed under Taliban rule.
Under a draconian policy, the Pakistan government has pledged to deport millions of Afghan nationals, after relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan severely deteriorated and attacks by militants in the border areas surged.
Pakistan government ministers have accused Afghans of being “terrorists” and “traitors” who are fuelling crime and militancy in the country.
Pakistan began deportations of Afghan refugees in September 2023. According to a recent report by Amnesty International, so far at least 844,499 Afghan nationals have been forcibly deported back to Afghanistan where they are at “real risk of persecution by the Taliban”.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/30/it-means-death-afghan-womens-rights-activists-face-deportation-from-pakistan