By Sardar Hussain
PESHAWAR
Since Taliban gunmen killed 141 people, mostly children, in an attack on a school in northwestern Pakistan last week, the government and army have issued a strong response.
Several militants found guilty of terrorism were hanged after the government ended its moratorium on executions, the army intensified its air strikes in the northwestern tribal areas where Taliban militant groups are concentrated, and several people allegedly involved in planning the attack has been arrested.
One of the most controversial moves however, has been the apparent decision to close down nine camps for Afghan refugees in the Khyber Pakthunkhwa district, which sits along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and deport nearly 1 million undocumented Afghan refugees.
Official sources say they are already preparing to shut down the first camp, called Bihari Colony.
"It’s already decided the camps will be shut down,” the source said on condition of anonymity. “In the first phase, Afghan refugees living in Peshawar without legal documents would be deported. Crackdowns would be initiated to arrest illegal Afghan immigrants. Later on these crackdowns will be expanded to other parts of the province as well. In the second phase all the nine refugee camps would be shut down permanently."
Despite the apparent imminent closure of the camps, many Afghans living in the region are unaware of the threat.
Ahamad Agha, a 32-year-old Afghan who sells clothes in a Peshawar market, says he has lived in the city all his life.
“I was born here. In Afghanistan we are from Nangarhar, Kama District, and I have been working here as a clothes seller for years. I live in a rented house along with my 14-member family,” he says.
Agha says whenever there have been attacks in Peshawar, police have arrested Afghans, releasing them only when they are paid.
“Now situation has been becoming unfriendly for Afghan refugees, whether having legal documents or not,” he says.
Sher Ali Stanakzai, who owns a shop in Khyber Bazar, also says that Afghans tend to suffer in the aftermath of attacks. He says nothing will happen with the camps because there have been so many inter-marriages between Afghans and Pakistanis that it will be impossible to separate them. He says when another refugee camp was shut down and destroyed, the refugees simply started renting homes.
“They cannot go back as they have flourishing businesses here and they have lived for over 30-year here on this land,” he says. “Whenever there is any terror incident, we Afghans become much under duress as police start crackdown against Afghan refugees. In most cases they are treated inhumanly. We strongly condemn terrorism, it’s a serious challenge, but whenever there is surge in terrorism, Afghans feel its backfires on us.”
On a daily basis, thousands of people cross at the border gates in Khyber Agency and Quetta, where there are few mechanisms for controlling the movement.
One Afghan refugee, on condition of anonymity, said Afghans often confine themselves to their houses after violent attacks in Peshawar.
“We usually confine ourselves up to our houses even in days of Muharram as well,” he said. “It’s a common practice for police to harass Afghans even after a minor incident and without their involvement in it.”
Nadeem Alizai, an analyst based in Kabul, said that while anti-Pakistani sentiment has long been present in Afghan politics, there is now an increasing anti-Afghan hostility growing in Pakistan, something which he says blocks attempts to build better relations between the countries.
After the Peshawar school attack, Pakistan's army chief flew to Kabul to speak to Afghan and NATO security officials about handing over Mullah Fazlullah, the head of the main Pakistani Taliban group, who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan. Afghan forces have since launched an operation in the eastern Kunar province.
An Afghan MP and Director of the Kunar People Association, Shahzada Shahed claimed the Pakistani refugees living in Kunar had already been armed by Pakistani security forces to attack the village of Dangam, where militants were believed to be based. Shahed said that more than 2,000 people raided the village and set tens of houses of fire.
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