Pakistan top court to review objections over petition seeking to restrain deportation of Afghans

In this photograph taken on November 12, 2023, Afghan refugee Shazia (L), mother to three children, loads her belongings onto a truck heading to Jalalabad, at a makeshift camp near the Afghanistan-Pakistan Torkham border in Nangarhar province, days after their deportation from Pakistan. (AFP)

• Pakistan last month ordered all undocumented foreigners, mostly Afghans, to leave the country by November 1 
• Nearly 300,000 Afghans have since left Pakistan, while Islamabad has brushed aside calls to halt the deportations 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top court has scheduled a hearing to review objections raised by its registrar office over a petition seeking a restraining order against forced deportation of Afghan nationals, Pakistani media reported on Sunday.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan decided to hear the objections to the plea after an “eager wait” of 18 days, Pakistan’s Express Tribune newspaper reported, citing a statement from the petitioner.
The statement emphasized the responsibility outlined in Article 184 (3), underscoring the top court’s role in preventing “systemic violations” of fundamental rights. Under the article, the Supreme Court can act on its own or on the application of any person, with the condition if it considers that any of the fundamental rights is violated.
“Justice Yahya Afridi is set to review the appeal in his chamber on November 20,” the Express Tribune report read.
Pakistan last month ordered all undocumented foreigners, mostly Afghans, to leave the country by November 1.
Pakistan’s Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has said the expulsion plan was a response to the unwillingness of the Taliban-led administration to act against militants using Afghanistan to carry out attacks in Pakistan.
The Taliban have said the security issues are a domestic matter for Islamabad and called on Pakistan to stop deportations.
However, a crackdown by Pakistani authorities to round up undocumented migrants and deport them to their home countries has piled on misery on millions of Afghan refugees, who have been living in Pakistan for decades and some of them never set foot in Afghanistan.
Nearly 300,000 Afghans have since left Pakistan, while Islamabad has brushed aside calls from the United Nations (UN), Western embassies and rights groups to halt the deportations.