Government to release jailed Afghans

The Pakistani government has said it will release Afghans in jail for minor offences, after reviewing their cases, but will not allow them to stay in the country. “They are alien to us, we cannot allow them to continue to live here,” the Pakistani interior minister, Moinuddin Haider, told IRIN on Thursday. “We will release and help them go back home,” he added. Haider’s comments follow an agreement between the interior ministry and the Taliban ambassador in Islamabad, Abdul Salam Zaeef, earlier in the week to establish a commission to review cases of Afghans in jail. The commission, comprising of two Afghan and two Pakistani officials, would firstly find out exactly how many Afghans were languishing in Pakistani jails, as there are no accurate statistics. “We fear there may be thousands in jail,” Taliban Embassy spokesman Mohammad Suhail Shaheen told IRIN. Welcoming the move, Shaheen said, “We felt this was needed and was well overdue.” However, he added that many Afghans were not in a position to return back to their homeland due to the ongoing drought and war. Pakistan is home to the largest number of Afghan refugees in the world, and has contended it cannot house them for much longer. According to the UN there are an about two million in the country. Under Pakistan’s Foreign Act, police are able to detain anyone lacks official documents, and Islamabad claims there are thousands of Afghans living without documentation. “We know this is a problem, but the Pakistanis should make an exception,” Shaheen maintained. “The Afghan situation is different, and it is difficult for our people to obtain such documentation when they leave their homeland,” he explained. During discussions between representatives of the two Islamic nations, concern was also expressed over police treatment of Afghans. The case of Salahuddin Samadi, allegedly beaten to death by Pakistani police in Islamabad after failing to pay a bribe, provoked a huge outcry from the local community. Samadi died from severe injuries on 27 June after being thrown from a moving vehicle, allegedly by police, on 15 June. The Afghan father of six had been living in Pakistan since 1996, and reportedly had legal refugee status. Haider denied that the commission had been set up in response to the death of Samadi, but added that it would start operating within the next 10 days. Meanwhile, Shaheen said he hoped the decision to establish such an organ would help protect and reunite Afghans in the future. “We hope the commission will provide immediate measures to release Afghans from prison,” he said. Afghans have been fleeing their homeland since the Soviet invasion in 1979, and many feel they are treated unfairly once they arrive in the neighbouring country. Afghans have complained of a recent campaign by police, whereby they are stopped on the streets and asked for money in return for their release, or face imprisonment. Such treatment has also caught the attention of international human rights organisations. Amnesty International’s Director of Asia and Pacific Programme Gerry Fox told IRIN on Thursday: “In Pakistan, Afghan refugees have now become the targets of continued police harassment and brutality.” He added that “systematic police brutality against Afghans” was not a new problem.