Pakistan arrests about 280 Afghans from recording programs

Federal recording programs

Pakistan arrests about 280 Afghans from recording programs

More than 2,000 people from Afghanistan are waiting for their departure to Germany in Pakistan. Most recently, dozens of them were deported home.

Pakistan has arrested around 280 Afghans in the past few days who have been waiting for their departure to Germany. According to DPA information 35, they have already been deported to Afghanistan. From the Federal Foreign Office, it says: “The Federal Government is in high -ranking contact with the Pakistani government through the German Embassy Islamabad and Berlin in order to clarify the situation as quickly as possible.”

At the moment, more than 2,000 Afghans are waiting for a departure to Germany as part of the various recording programs in Pakistan. They are former local forces or are particularly at risk. Since the German embassy in Kabul has been closed to the Islamist Taliban in August 2021 since Afghanistan, they run through a test procedure in Pakistan. For months alone, months of talking with the security authorities.

The first goal is to ensure the protection and safety of the particularly endangered people, according to the Federal Foreign Office. In addition, the deported should be made possible to return to Pakistan in compliance with the regulations on residence law. “In the case of particularly endangered persons who were arrested by Pakistani authorities, we strive for their release and their continued support from our service provider on site.”

Afghans in Pakistan told the dpa that there were raids in several accommodations on Wednesday. These also continued on Thursday. An owner of a guest house in Islamabad said that seven families were arrested in his accommodation. In another guest house, according to a guard, nine families were taken by authorities on Thursday.

The dpa also has statements from an Afghan who has already been brought to the border town of Peschawar. Another resident of the guest houses reported families who had already gripped their suitcases for fear of further arrests. According to the reporter without borders, the Pakistani police also brought a journalist to a deportation camp on Wednesday. The organization asked the federal government to work for its release.

It was not immediately clear whether the events with Pakistan’s general measures against migrants and refugees from Afghanistan are related or specifically directed against Afghans in the German recording program. It can be assumed that the Pakistani authorities know in which guest houses in Afghan are in the German recording program.

From Kabul Luftbrücke it was said in a message that the organization constantly reached new calls for help. Pakistani security forces would sometimes apply violence and the organization would also have reports that families were separated. “The German embassy Islamabad can obviously not effectively protect those affected,” it said. Kabul Airbrücke called for the bypass exhibition of the visas for those affected.

After the Taliban was taken over, various admission procedures for Afghans were set up in Germany. Other recording programs, for example for the Bundeswehr, have existed for a long time. The new federal government of Union and SPD stopped the programs in early May.