Strangers in a strange land

They go by many names: immigrants, refugees, aliens – titles meant to denote some little difference between them but all essentially meaning people that do not belong to the land they have landed on. Pakistan has had its fair share of all stripes of migrants, mostly from Afghanistan, but also from other neighbouring and regional lands. In fact, if anything, this is a land that has provided sustenance to millions of those who had to flee their homes in desperation. And yet this week, a sudden announcement by the current caretaker government has threatened to undo years and years of goodwill. The government has said that it intends to repatriate more than one million foreign nationals who are currently residing in Pakistan without legal authorization. It has set November 1 as a deadline for all illegal immigrants residing in Pakistan, warning that action will be taken against them once the deadline passes. The decision was taken during an apex committee meeting on the National Action Plan (NAP) on Tuesday. While the Foreign Office has said that the decision to deport illegal residents was not specifically targeted at Afghans, the move has perhaps justifiably been seen as an attempt to deport people to Afghanistan. The FO has also said that the national policy towards the Afghan refugees in the country remains “unchanged” and the ongoing operation is against the individuals who have either overstayed their visas or do not have the valid documents to stay.

The government has said that the decision was made due to concerns that some people who are residing here illegally are linked to activities such as funding, facilitating, and smuggling terrorists. There is of course no second opinion on cracking down on anyone linked to terrorism – whether they are Pakistanis born in Pakistan or any other nationality living here. However, there are far too many caveats that have been ignored by a government in a rush to start ousting people from the country. Civil society and human rights organizations have pointed out the haphazard and abrupt way the government has gone about this. The UNHCR has said, for example, that any refugees residing in Pakistan should be allowed to exit the country voluntarily and no pressure should be exerted on them, while the HRCP has rightly called out the short notice given by the government, saying it “reflects not only an absence of compassion but also a myopic and narrow view of national security”. What needs to be kept at the forefront is the fact that the large majority of ‘aliens’ here are vulnerable refugees and stateless persons – mostly Afghan but also others – for whom Pakistan has been home for several generations. Sending them back to hostile lands – even if they originate from there – is putting their lives at risk. A child who has grown up in Pakistan being sent back to Afghanistan at a time when she cannot even be schooled there – who does that really end up serving?

There have been questions over whether this is a misplaced reaction to legitimate concerns regarding the Afghan Taliban government’s inaction on the TTP. But if security really is the main issue, can the government not undertake the far more practical approach of documenting all migrant residents in the country? If anyone is indeed found guilty of crime or terror, the law of the land is there to be applied on them. But painting all migrants or refugees as a security threat is surely not the message we wish to send out to the world? For the moment, it seems no homework was done. As a first step, the November 1 date needs to be rethought. Second, the registration process should be made easier for immigrants and refugees and they should not fear that they will be jailed or deported or expelled if they go for renewal of their registration. And, third, we might wish to remember Warsan Shire’s words: “no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.” Because the next time a Western country refuses the refugees that come to them in dingy boats, we may not have much leg to stand when we protest their racism.