Pakistan's Supreme Court Hears Petition Against Deportation of Afghans

Nationwide crackdown on undocumented Afghans leads to mass deportations amid human rights concerns.

Pakistan's Supreme Court has begun hearings on a petition by human rights activists seeking to halt the forceful deportation of Afghans born in Pakistan and those at risk if returned to Afghanistan.
The deportations are part of a nationwide crackdown by the Pakistani government on Afghans in the country without proper documentation, which has led to hundreds of thousands returning to Afghanistan.
Human rights activists, U.N. officials and others have denounced Pakistan’s policy and urged Islamabad to reconsider.
Senior lawyer Umar Gilani, representing the petitioners, argued that the current interim government in Pakistan does not have the authority to introduce such major policy shifts.
Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province has set a target of deporting 10,000 Afghans per day who are in the country illegally.