As challenges to the political party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan rise, concerns over whether Pakistan’s general elections on February 8 would be free and fair are becoming more prevalent.Calls to delay elections in the face of declining security and a lackluster campaign season are another factor raising the uncertainty.
For the past three weeks, family members of dozens of missing Baloch persons in Pakistan have been protesting in an outdoor camp in Islamabad despite the bitter cold. In order to recover their loved ones, who they claim were kidnapped by security agencies, they are demanding the state act. The interim information minister of Pakistan told VOA that the decades old problem of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the region of Balochistan cannot be resolved by his government.
The Pakistan’s government started deporting Afghans who had been living there illegally on November 1. Since then, thousands of refugees have returned to Afghanistan and living near the border in makeshift camps. These family say that with winter is approaching, they need jobs and housing.
The ongoing deportations of undocumented Afghan refugees by Pakistan, according to the Afghan owners of textile mills there, have left them with multiple problems in operating their businesses.
Pakistani authorities began conducting unexpected house raids on the homes of Uyghurs living in Rawalpindi just before a government order to expel all illegal migrants who had not left the country by the start of November took effect, according to Uyghurs involved in the matter.Â
Pakistan has decided to forcibly deport all undocumented refugees starting on November 1. Afghan refugees living in Pakistan have expressed concern about this decision.
All Afghans without documents are required to leave Pakistan by November 1. As part of that crackdown, the government now requires that residents show their passports or visas in order to cross the border—documents that many do not possess.
This week, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that it is illegal to trial civilians in military courts. More than 100 people arrested by the military after supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan stormed military installations to protest his arrest on May 9 are directly impacted by the verdict.
For the last three years, Inayat Amran, a resident of the eastern province of Khost, has been working as a poliovirus vaccination volunteer.There are just two countries in the world where polio is still endemic: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
All illegal immigrants must leave Pakistan willingly by November 1 or face deportation, according to Pakistani authorities. The Afghan population, many of whom fled their country after the Taliban captured power in August 2021, are those who will be most affected by the new order.