KARACHI: In January, Faiz Muhammad borrowed from neighbors in his village in Afghanistan’s Paktika province and managed to scrape together 15,000 rupees ($58) to cover travel expenses to the Pakistani port city of Karachi where he hoped to get his sister-in-law treated for chronic kidney disease.
But, similar to dozens of others, Muhammad, who was traveling without a visa, was arrested soon after entering Pakistan and sent on judicial remand on Jan. 26.
He was held at Karachi’s Malir jail until Feb. 21 when he was taken to Jinnah Hospital after he “suddenly” fell ill, according to prison officials and court documents.
The 60-year-old died the following day. It was the fourth death since October of an Afghan jailed for entering Pakistan without valid travel documents.
“My father had no illness,” Muhammad’s son Baz told Arab News. “He took my aunt for kidney treatment but lost his own life.”
Afghans have for decades been traveling to neighboring Pakistan to escape war and persecution in their country and to seek employment and medical treatment as Afghanistan’s own health system, understaffed, poorly equipped, and underfunded for years, is on the brink of collapse.
Many of the travelers cannot afford visas and have no travel documents.
Pakistan is home to around 2.8 million Afghan refugees, including 1.5 million registered and 1.3 million unregistered Afghan nationals, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. After the Taliban takeover of the war-battered country in August 2021, around 250,000 additional Afghans took shelter in Pakistan.
But since last year, Pakistan has intensified its crackdown on Afghans crossing the border without valid documents.
Court documents seen by Arab News said Muhammad had no “significant” history of illnesses but had been diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes, and depression a year earlier. At Malir jail, he developed a severe ear infection and was advised hospital care.
Malir prison official Muhammad Asif also said the Afghan did not have any registered serious illnesses but was taken to hospital after his health “deteriorated suddenly.”
He added that all inmates were either provided medical help at the jail premises or taken to hospital if their condition required it.
But a letter by Afghanistan’s consul general, which Arab News can confirm was received by the office of the Sindh home secretary on Feb. 17, showed that the envoy had requested provincial authorities to grant Muhammad “special remission” on “humanitarian grounds” due to a “critical health condition.”
The letter also mentioned three other Afghan inmates who died due to “unavailability of proper medication” in January.
Syed Abdul Jabbar Takhari, Afghanistan’s acting consul general in Karachi, Sindh province, told Arab News that Pakistani authorities were informed “on time” about Muhammad’s deteriorating health and his life could have been saved if he had been provided with timely medical help.
“We informed the home secretary well in time but instead of taking him for treatment, we were informed on Feb. 24 that he had died two days ago,” he said.
“There are many like him who are being denied medical treatment. We urge the government of Pakistan to be kind with these people who come here for treatment.”
Last month, under-trial Afghan prisoners Taj Muhammad, Abdul Khalil, and Wali Khan also died while at a correctional facility in Karachi’s Malir district.
“These people died because they didn’t get treatment,” Takhari said at the time, adding that his mission had informed Sindh authorities about the inmates’ health problems in advance.
Arshad Shah, superintendent of Malir prison, rejected Takhari’s allegations, claiming all inmates, including the three Afghan nationals, were given treatment.
“We have medical facilities,” Shah said. “But the ones with serious conditions are sent to hospital, either to Jinnah Hospital or the civil hospital.”
Takhari has said almost 870 Afghan nationals, many struggling with health issues, are currently being held in Sindh prisons.
Baz said his father, the primary carer of his aunt Saira Bibi since her husband died in a landmine explosion nine years ago, took her to the Ariana hospital in Kabul where doctors said she needed to go to Pakistan to receive adequate treatment.
Muhammad, like most Afghans, opted to cross the border illegally as the family could not afford to pay the visa fee to enter Pakistan, but he was caught and offloaded from a bus at Hub Chowki in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province while attempting to enter Karachi.
“She (Bibi) is coming home without being cured,” Baz said. “And my father is left behind, dead, and alone.”
