Media Watchdog: Pakistan’s Treatment of Afghan Journalists Illegal, Inhumane

DID Press: As pressure on Afghan migrants in Pakistan intensifies, an organization supporting open media has warned about the arrest and mistreatment of Afghan journalists by Pakistani police, calling for an immediate halt to their deportation.

According to Nai-supporting open media in Exile, Pakistani police have violently detained five Afghan journalists and media workers over the past 24 hours amid a widening crackdown on Afghan migrants.

The organization warned that the detainees face imminent deportation to Afghanistan — a move that, it says, could endanger their lives.

In a statement, Nai said the detained journalists were subjected to physical and psychological violence during their arrest and transfer, behavior it described as “inhumane and in violation of international refugee-protection laws.”

Nai in Exile urged the Pakistani government not to use Afghan journalists and media workers as leverage in political disputes with the Taliban authorities and to stop their forced deportation.

Highlighting the dangers facing journalists inside Afghanistan, the group said: “Returning these individuals to a country where media freedom is suppressed exposes them to serious risks of death and persecution.”

In recent weeks, as tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban government have escalated, the pace of arrests and deportations of Afghan migrants in Pakistan has increased sharply.

Reports have also emerged of beatings of refugees, particularly women and children — developments that have triggered strong reactions from human rights groups and media organizations.

Nai in Exile stressed that the current situation reflects “growing pressure on Afghanistan’s journalism community,” and called on the international community to intervene and provide effective oversight to ensure the protection of Afghan refugee journalists in Pakistan.