INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said Wednesday it was deeply concerned for the rights and welfare of Afghan refugees in Pakistan in the
wake of the recent announcement by Islamabad that it plans to start Phase Two of the deportation campaign.Pakistan is home to an estimated
3.7 million Afghans, and a reported 500,000 have crossed the border so far.Many Afghans living in Pakistan have been there for decades and
have spent more time in the country than their country of origin, without any legal recourse to remain in the only place they can
effectively call &home&.For many Afghans, Islamabad&s &repatriation& campaign means packing up their belongings and carrying them on a
horse, cart, car and bus and traveling en masse to a country that is already struggling with widespread poverty, inadequate health services
and increased restrictions on women, MSF said in a statement.The second phase of the deportations leaves an estimated 800,000
Pakistan-issued Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders vulnerable to return, while phase three is expected to result in the further deportation
of UNHCR-issued Proof of Registration (PoR) card holders, MSF said.MSF first started working in Pakistan in 1986, and today provides
much-needed medical care to people in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces.The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) and UN
agencies estimate that more than half a million people have been deported from Pakistan or voluntarily returned to Afghanistan in the past
six months.The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said last month that nearly two million Afghan refugees are living in Pakistan
and that the agency needs $368 million this year to assist these people.The post MSF ‘deeply concerned& over new phase of deportations of
Afghans from Pakistan first appeared on Ariana News.
