24 Afghanistan’s displaced people: 2014 and beyond FMR 46 May 2014 Violence and vulnerabilities: Afghans in Pakistan Sanaa Alimia

Given that the majority of Afghans who live in Pakistan today are unlikely to return to Afghanistan, more needs to be done to address their vulnerabilities and protect them from harassment and violence.

There are an estimated 1.6 million registered of basic services is unreliable, and some NGOs Afghan refugees and one to two million are unwilling to invest in Afghan areas for undocumented Afghans in Pakistan. After fear that the area will be closed down. Routine 2001 the Government of Pakistan no longer arrests, harassment, arbitrary detention and recognised Afghans entering Pakistan as even deportation of Afghans have become refugees, and these undocumented Afghans common. Increasing security threats have have no legal protection. The majority of meant that security checkpoints are a routine Afghans in Pakistan live in the Khyber feature of daily life – and an identity card, Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces which many Afghans lack, is essential. although a significant number have settled in Furthermore, the systematic targeting of Karachi, Islamabad and various urban areas Afghans is also seen by many as a strategy in the Punjab. Many registered Afghans live to ‘encourage’ repatriation to Afghanistan. in refugee tented villages (RTVs), mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, but the majority of Afghans live in rented or “Pakistan is no longer safe for us. They [the state] informally purchased accommodation, in just want us to go. This is why they constantly harass regulated and unregulated (i.e. squatter) areas. us.” (Afghan Pakhtun refugee who has lived in Pakistan since 1982) The majority of Afghan refugees in Pakistan first arrived in the 1980s and early 1990s and have firmly established lives in Pakistan. Recommendations for 2014 and beyond Many have contributed to the economic Many Afghans in Pakistan either live growth in rural and urban areas and have transnational lives, moving between formed deep social relations with Pakistanis Afghanistan and Pakistan, or have through friendships, marriages or business limited intention and scope for returning partnerships, or through living in shared to Afghanistan, whether because of the neighbourhoods. Despite this, hostility continued conflict in Afghanistan or because towards Afghans has increased significantly of their improved social position in Pakistan. in recent years, triggered by factors such as The Pakistani government and international ‘hosting fatigue’ and nationalist tensions. and local NGOs should plan and act accordingly. Afghans are increasingly negatively stereotyped in public discourse and in Greater efforts to support vulnerable Afghans the media. Once idolised as the heroic who have limited access to health care, mujahideen (‘religious fighters’), Afghans in water and sanitation are needed, and local Pakistan are now seen more in the light of NGO actors should be encouraged to assist the destructive Taliban, and this increased in this. Residents of RTVs are often keen to hostility towards Afghans has had a number become self-sufficient and have organised of negative impacts for Afghans. Security of committees to deal with pressing issues such housing for Afghans in Pakistan, whether as access to clean water. Better coordination in RTVs, informal housing areas or rented and communication between local NGOs and accommodation, is precarious and sudden Afghan communities could support these sharp increases in rent are common. Provision communities in improving their environment. Afghanistan’s displaced people: 2014 and beyond 25 FMR 46 May 2014

More space for positive discourse on the that the majority of Afghans who remain ways in which Afghans contribute towards in Pakistan today are unlikely to return Pakistani society should be created. For to Afghanistan, the government should example, the Citizens Archive Project consider introducing an amnesty scheme in Karachi records the oral histories which would allow Afghans to become legal of migrants in Pakistan; it currently citizens of the state, thereby allowing the focuses only on migrations that took state to better govern a sizeable population place during Pakistan’s Partition and that is de facto a part of the state as well as Independence but could be encouraged to providing this population with full rights make space for Afghan oral histories.1 and protection. If not this, then, at the very least, Afghans should be provided with Continued education for government actors long-term work and/or residency permits (including local courts), civil society actors that are not as ad hoc and unpredictable as and the Pakistani police and security forces the current Afghan registration card which on the legal rights of Afghans in Pakistan requires frequent renewal that is not always should be promoted by the Government of guaranteed and is often delayed. Afghans are Pakistan and UNHCR. And legal aid for an integral and long-term part of Pakistan. Afghans should continue to be promoted This must now be recognised in law. by UNHCR implementing partners in areas with high Afghan populations. Sanaa Alimia [email protected] is a Senior Teaching Fellow at the School of Oriental and In the longer term, the Government of African Studies (SOAS), London. www.soas.ac.uk Pakistan should be encouraged to recognise This paper is based on fieldwork conducted in what is already a reality in Pakistan: that Karachi and Peshawar since 2010. millions of ‘non-nationals’ are an integral and long-term part of Pakistan. Given 1. www.citizensarchive.org/oral-history-project/ Returning from Iran Armando Geller and Maciej M Latek

Understanding the factors that have an impact on refugee decision making about return and people’s ability to reintegrate following return is critical in planning appropriate pre- and post- return programmes for Afghan refugees in Iran.

While the key factors impeding return that many recent returnees from Iran are well understood (security, economic find that the challenges to their reinteg- opportunities and access to housing and basic ration in Afghanistan are compounded services), there remain significant knowledge by two key pre-return circumstances: gaps relating to many social and personal 1) the weak social and economic ties they aspects of the return and reintegration stages retained to their watan (home country) of the displacement cycle for Afghan refugees. and 2) the inability to make reasonably Improved understanding in this area could well-informed decisions about return.1 inform cross-border programming options in order to better equip Afghan refugees – The emergence of negative push factors who may have spent many years in exile – Cross-border kinship, friendship and business with the necessary skills and knowledge networks are often thought of as primary for successful return and reintegration. linkages between Afghan populations in Iran and Afghanistan.2 Our interviews in Research in late 2013 for the Norwegian the high-return areas of Balkh and Sar-e Pol Refugee Council provides clear indications suggest, however, that the function and power