(2 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Karachi, Pakistan – 30 March 2025
1. Wide of Afghan camp, al-Asif Square, people shopping in a market
2. Low angled shot of feet
3. Mid of people walking by stalls
4. Afghan women in shuttlecock burqa purchasing jewellery
5. Various of Samiullah, a 40-year-old Afghan man, selling caps
6. SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Samiullah, Afghan refugee:
“We don’t want to go to Afghanistan, I am a Pakistani in all respects. My children were born here. I have my home here. What would I do there (in Afghanistan). I can’t work there. I am happy here in Pakistan with my Pakistani brothers. I am very happy here. Pakistan has been generous to us. Don’t throw us out. What would we poor people do there!? Long live Pakistan.”
7. Various of Siddique Ahmed, a 34-year-old Afghan shopkeeper, selling perfumes
8. SOUNDBITE (Pashto) Siddiq Ahmed, Afghan refugee:
“I am very happy here, I have a home here, I have a business here, we have a great time here, we know that Afghanistan has nothing for us, there is no business activity there. The conditions are not good for us, our request to the government of Pakistan is to please allow us to live here, if we go back there (Afghanistan) they don’t say he is Afghan, they’d say a Pakistani arrived.”
9. Various of an Afghan making bread
10. SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Siddiq Ahmed, Afghan refugee:
“What would I do if I went there (Afghanistan)? I was born here, and I had my children here. I got married here. I work in this shop. My employer is Pakistani. I earn my living here. Where would I live if I went to Afghanistan? I have nothing there, neither land nor any other property. I am happy here. I was born here. I am happy with the Pakistan government. I request it to give me citizenship.”
11. Wide of area where Afghan refugees live, traffic on road
12. Various of Afghan women wearing shuttlecock burqa walking in a street
STORYLINE:
Pakistan plans to expel 3 million Afghans from the country.
A deadline for them to voluntarily leave the capital and surrounding areas expired Monday.
Arrests and deportations were due to begin April 1 but were pushed back to April 10 because of the Eid Al-Fitr holidays, marking the end of Ramadan, according to documents seen by The Associated Press.
It’s the latest phase of a nationwide crackdown that was launched in October 2023 to expel foreigners living in Pakistan illegally, mostly Afghans.
The campaign has consistently drawn fire from rights groups, the Taliban government, and the U.N.
Some 845,000 Afghans have left Pakistan in the past 18 months because of the policy, the latest figures from the International Organization for Migration show.
Pakistan says 3 million Afghans are in the country.
Of these, 1,344,584 hold Proof of Registration cards, 807,402 have Afghan Citizen Cards and there are a further million who are in the country illegally.
Pakistan said it will ensure that Afghans do not return once deported.
Authorities wanted Afghan Citizen cardholders to leave the capital Islamabad and Rawalpindi city by March 31 and return to Afghanistan voluntarily or be deported.
Those with Proof of Registration can stay in Pakistan until June 30, while Afghans bound for third-country resettlement must also leave Islamabad and Rawalpindi by March 31.
Tens of thousands of Afghans fled after the Taliban took over in 2021.
They were approved for resettlement in the U.S. through a program that helps people at risk because of their work with the American government, media, aid agencies, and rights groups.
AP Video by Muhammad Farooq
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