Kabul, Dec 31 (IANS) Over 2,000 Afghan refugees have been repatriated from Pakistan and Iran in a single day, a Taliban official said on Wednesday.

Sharing the High Commission for Addressing Migrants' Issues report on X, Taliban deputy spokesperson Mullah Hamdullah Fitrat stated that 450 families, comprising 2,254 people, returned to Afghanistan on Tuesday, Pajhwok Afghan News reported.

He said that Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistan through the Spin Boldak crossing in Kandahar, the Bahramcha crossing in Helmand, the Torkham crossing in Nangarhar, the Islam Qala crossing in Herat and Pul-i-Abresham in Nimroz.

He noted that 199 returning families, comprising 1,018 people, were taken to their respective home areas, while 417 families were provided humanitarian assistance.

Mullah Hamdullah Fitrat stated that telecommunication firms provided 390 SIM cards to returning refugees.

As many as 2,827 Afghan migrants were deported from Iran and Pakistan.

Earlier in November, several Afghan refugees in Pakistan said that they had been overwhelmed by continuous pressure from the country's police, which, apart from conducting searches, was arresting people and exploiting their vulnerable situation as a source of income.

A report in an Afghan newspaper, '8 AM Media', also known as Hasht-e-Subh Daily, highlighted that Afghan refugees in Pakistan do not have basic human rights and live in constant fear and anxiety.

Human rights groups and refugee-support groups have remained silent regarding the uncertainty and the government's failure to fulfil its commitment to human rights and the protection of refugees.

Over the past few months, as tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan continue, Islamabad has increased its pressure on Afghan refugees, with the Pakistani forces conducting widespread harassment of migrants each day in various areas, including Islamabad.

Apart from official operations involving the arrest of Afghan refugees without visas, people in plain clothes extort money from migrants in residential areas. Afghan people have said that they live in inhumane conditions filled with fear and anxiety, and their refugee rights are not respected.

"The situation is extremely distressing. I wish the official operations team would simply arrest and take people away. This method is not right; the police know no one will report them, so they come individually for searches. Several men in plain clothes lie in wait in the neighbourhood, grab someone, and take them away. It is unclear whether they are police, thieves, or cooperating with the police. Now, even if an ordinary person commits theft or kidnapping under the name of the police, people assume he is a police officer," the report quoted an Afghan national as saying.

"These individuals detain migrants in their personal vehicles; some are released on the spot after paying money, while others are taken to police posts. They are probably police themselves or collaborating with the police. The level of theft and robbery is extremely high, and no institution hears the people's voices. The situation is deeply painful; a country that has no defender and whose citizens have no protection or credibility anywhere in the world," the refugee added.

--IANS

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