Sarfraz Bugti, Pakistan’s caretaker Interior Minister, announced at the start of October that the country’s caretaker government would begin the expulsion of 1.7 million unregistered Afghan refugees, with the deadline set for November 1. The deportations have already begun, and on Thursday Pakistani officials announced the establishment of deportation centres to hold any undocumented foreigners who have not left by the deadline. The plan represents the largest forced repatriation since the establishment of the UN’s Refugee Convention in 1951, which was created to prevent actions like these.
Although Pakistan is not a signatory to the treaty, the UN’s Refugee and Migration agencies have appealed to Islamabad to reconsider. What has prompted Pakistan to pursue a path that will cause so much human suffering, and is so contrary to established norms?
Caretaker governments are meant to provide non-partisan governance during election campaigns. Given this limited mandate, they rarely take major decisions. Pakistan’s current caretaker government stands out in particular because it is composed of figures selected by the military rather than the major political parties. This has an impact because Pakistan’s Afghan refugee policy has always been weighted towards security interests in Afghanistan. The nature of those interests, however, have sharply changed over time.
The Afghan refugees who began streaming into Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of 1979 were welcomed in large part because Pakistan wanted to ensure that the Afghan resistance had a large and secure social base of support. As Moscow withdrew its forces in the late 1980s, senior Pakistani strategists envisioned and advocated a future where the two countries had fully integrated their economies, or even entered into confederation. The sheer size of the Afghan population in Pakistan and the openness of the border allowed Pakistan to dominate Afghanistan’s economy and politics.
But the emergence of the Pakistani Taliban (the TTP) in 2007 changed all of that. The TTP’s ferocious insurgency was like nothing Pakistani army generals had ever experienced, or even imagined. The scale and reach of the TTP’s violence were certainly shocking, but the depth of the ideological challenge was even more terrifying. Armed forces personnel of every background seemed susceptible to a message that denied legitimate authority to anyone other than a reclusive one-eyed Afghan preacher.
It is no accident that Pakistan stopped granting formal refugee status to new arrivals after 2007. And after the horrific Army Public School massacre that took place in Peshawar in December 2014, the Pakistani government began mass forced repatriations on a scale that had not been seen since Partition. Over 400,000 displaced Afghans were sent back, forcing Kabul to seek some kind of detente with Pakistan.
Afghan refugees, it should be noted, had nothing to do with the TTP and its violence. In fact, the TTP had been largely driven out of its safe havens by a series of army offensives in the semi-autonomous “tribal agencies” along the border. The displaced militants then began to operate from territory vacated by the Kabul government. By 2017, the expulsions of refugees had stopped, but in exchange the Afghan government reluctantly accepted Pakistan’s fencing of the border.
Today it is the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate, rather than the elected and pro-western leadership of the Afghan republic that sits in Kabul, but Pakistan’s choices have not changed for the better. That is because, remarkably, the TTP received support from both of these very different, and very mutually hostile Afghan regimes. Every Afghan government of the past 75 years – royalist, communist, democratic and clerical – has found itself unable to accept the legitimacy of Pakistan’s colonial borders, and this has inevitably led to conflict with Pakistan.
On top of that Pakistan has cracked down on the highly profitable transit trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan, threatening the Taliban’s tax base
Beyond the clash of nationalisms, the Afghan Taliban feels an additional ideological compulsion to support its sister movement, the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani government’s on-and-off transactional support to the Afghan Taliban is simply no match for what the Taliban leadership seems to sincerely believe is a matter of faith.
Thanks to the US pullout and the Taliban’s takeover in Kabul in 2021, the TTP has emerged as a reinvigorated force, with an enormous safe haven and no shortage of weapons. The result has been an expanding insurgency in Pakistan’s provinces of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, with hundreds of attacks conducted this year alone.
Pakistani forces have not yet been able to turn this tide, despite steadily mounting casualties. After the divisive and bruising battle with Imran Khan, and the near-meltdown of the economy, the failure to maintain peace and security is an extremely serious political problem for the military’s legitimacy.
Although Pakistan has threatened military force against the Afghan Taliban, and even carried out airstrikes on Afghan soil, there is considerable reluctance to get bogged down in the same kind of war that exhausted the Soviets and American superpowers. Especially when Pakistani forces are already stretched between multiple insurgencies. Instead, the goal seems to be to wage an indirect economic war on the Taliban.
A million and a half returnees would put severe pressure on food and housing prices as well as public resources. On top of that Pakistan has cracked down on the highly profitable transit trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan, threatening the Taliban’s tax base. Cumulatively, the hope seems to be that these actions will challenge the Islamic Emirate’s economic stability, and ultimately its domestic legitimacy, without creating a military crisis.
Unfortunately, the Afghan Taliban’s track record does not suggest that they respond to such high visibility external pressure of any sort, whether military or economic. The Taliban’s threshold for pain and its options for escalation remain far higher than that of Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani government’s current policies will likely cause immense suffering to refugees and border communities in both countries, which will likely add rather than alleviate its security burden. The radicalisation of Afghan refugees against their adopted country can very easily be transformed from a false stereotype to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It is clear that Pakistan requires the support of the international community to take on the TTP and to restrain the Taliban. But in turn it must uphold international norms when it comes to the treatment of refugees.
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Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
'I Want You Back'
Director:Jason Orley
Stars:Jenny Slate, Charlie Day
Rating:4/5
Results
5.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,400m
Winner Spirit Of Light, Clement Lecoeuvre (jockey), Erwan Charpy (trainer)
6.05pm Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner Bright Start, Pat Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor
6.40pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner Twelfthofneverland, Nathan Crosse, Satish Seemar
7.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh85,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Imperial Empire, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
7.50pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (T) 2,000m
Winner Record Man, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
8.25pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (D) 1,600m
Winner Celtic Prince, Fabrice Veron, Rashed Bouresly
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MO
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Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
A Bad Moms Christmas
Dir: John Lucas and Scott Moore
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines
Two stars
World Sevens Series standing after Dubai
1. South Africa
2. New Zealand
3. England
4. Fiji
5. Australia
6. Samoa
7. Kenya
8. Scotland
9. France
10. Spain
11. Argentina
12. Canada
13. Wales
14. Uganda
15. United States
16. Russia
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)
Sunday, May 17
Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)
Monday, May 18
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
The biog
First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
Results
6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,400m. Winner: Rio Angie, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer).
7.05pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 1,600m. Winner: Trenchard, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
7.40pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m. Winner: Mulfit, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.15pm: Handicap Dh210,000 (D) 1,200m. Winner: Waady, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Handicap Dh210,000 (D) 2,000m. Winner: Tried And True, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
9.25pm:Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,400m. Winner: Midnight Sands, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier, in Bangkok
UAE fixtures Mon Nov 20, v China; Tue Nov 21, v Thailand; Thu Nov 23, v Nepal; Fri Nov 24, v Hong Kong; Sun Nov 26, v Malaysia; Mon Nov 27, Final
(The winners will progress to the Global Qualifier)
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
Crops that could be introduced to the UAE
1: Quinoa
2. Bathua
3. Amaranth
4. Pearl and finger millet
5. Sorghum
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
Mane points for safe home colouring
- Natural and grey hair takes colour differently than chemically treated hair
- Taking hair from a dark to a light colour should involve a slow transition through warmer stages of colour
- When choosing a colour (especially a lighter tone), allow for a natural lift of warmth
- Most modern hair colours are technique-based, in that they require a confident hand and taught skills
- If you decide to be brave and go for it, seek professional advice and use a semi-permanent colour
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