不法滞在のアフガン人、帰国期限迫り国境に殺到　パキスタン

【ペシャワルＡＦＰ＝時事】パキスタンに約１７０万人いる不法滞在のアフガニスタン人に対し、自主的に帰国しなければ強制送還するとした政府の期限が迫る中、１０月３１日には３万人近くが国境検問所に列をつくった。（写真はパキスタンのアフガニスタン国境で列をつくるアフガニスタン人難民を乗せたトラック）
　パキスタンには、アフガニスタン人数百万人が暮らしている。そのうち、推定６０万人が、イスラム主義組織タリバンがアフガニスタンの実権を再び掌握した２０２１年８月以降に避難してきた。
　パキスタン政府は１１月１日から、帰国を拒否する不法滞在のアフガニスタン人を、新設した収容施設に移送し、強制送還の手続きをすると発表していた。
　パキスタンのサルフラズ・ブグティ内相は動画で、１１月１日までは自主的な出国が認められるが、２日からは強制送還を行うと宣言した。
　政府高官によると、カイバル・パクトゥンクワ州の国境では１０月３１日午後に少なくとも１万８０００人が７キロにも及ぶ列をつくった。
　入管当局によると、南部バルチスタン州の検問所には約５０００人が押し寄せた。
　タリバン暫定政府のモハマド・ヤクーブ国防相は、パキスタンの方針は「残酷で野蛮」だと非難している。
　ペシャワルに住むアフガニスタン人の少女（１４）はＡＦＰに、滞在に必要な書類はないができるだけ長くパキスタンに残るつもりだと話した。
　「アフガニスタンでは教育が受けられなくなるから私たちは故郷には帰らない」「父には、もし自分がパキスタン当局に逮捕されても帰るなと言われている。アフガニスタンには人生がないから」と語った。
　首都イスラマバードでは、複数のアフガニスタン人学校が１０月３１日から休校している。教師らはＡＦＰに、生徒が家族と一緒に身を隠しているからだと説明した。
　市内では警察と政府関係者の立ち会いの下、貧しいアフガニスタン人が住んでいた、泥で造られた違法建築の取り壊しが行われていた。
　難民の両親の元にパキスタンで生まれた男性（３５）は自宅がブルドーザーに崩されるのを見ながら、「もうたくさんだ。道を教えてくれればきょうにも車を手配して出て行く。こんな屈辱には耐えられない」と嘆いた。
　■前例のない取り締まり
　パキスタンは、アフガニスタン人の強制送還は国の「福祉と治安」を守るためだとしている。
　アフガニスタン難民の長期的な滞在が、パキスタンのインフラに大きな負担となっており、今回の方針は国民から幅広い支持を得られていると強調している。
　弁護士や人権活動家らは、今回の取り締まりは前代未聞の規模だと指摘。当局に対し、アフガニスタン人が尊厳を持って去ることができるよう、もっと時間を与えるよう訴えてた。帰国を迫られている人の中には、数十年間パキスタンに住んでいる人もいる。
　国際人権団体ヒューマン・ライツ・ウオッチは１０月３１日、パキスタン政府は「脅迫、暴力、拘束」を用いて帰国を強制していると指摘した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/11/02-15:54）

More than 20,000 Afghans living in Pakistan rushed to the borders on Tuesday, ahead of a government deadline for 1.7 million undocumented people to leave or face arrest and deportation.
Millions of Afghans have poured into Pakistan, fleeing decades of successive conflicts, including an estimated 600,000 since the Taliban government seized power in August 2021 and imposed its harsh interpretation of Islamic law.
The Pakistan government has said from Wednesday it would begin arresting undocumented Afghans who refuse to leave and taking them to new holding centres, from where they will be processed and forcibly returned to Afghanistan.
Afghans would be allowed to leave voluntarily until the November 1 deadline, after which staggered deportations will begin from Thursday, Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said in a video statement.
Only those people who are completely illegal will leave Pakistan, he said on Tuesday afternoon.
At least 18,000 people had joined a snaking, seven-kilometre-long queue at the Torkham border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province by Tuesday afternoon, Irshad Mohmand, a senior government official said.
Another 5,000 people had arrived at the southern Chaman crossing in Balochistan, border officials there said.
Thousands of Afghan refugees are waiting for their turn in vehicles, lorries and trucks, and the number continues to grow, Mohmand told AFP.
Once over the border, they face a further bottleneck as they must register with Afghan officials.
The Taliban government's defence minister Mullah Yaqoob said Pakistan's policy was cruel and barbaric.
- 'Not going back home' -
A spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government said holding centres where Afghans would be held for one or two days for processing, would open from November 1.
If someone refuses (to leave) they will be detained and deported. The combing operation against illegal Afghans will start from tomorrow, Feroz Jamal told AFP on Tuesday.
A fourteen-year-old Afghan girl, who AFP has not named for security reasons, said she will stay in Pakistan as long as possible, despite not having legal papers.
We are not going back home, because my education in Afghanistan would come to a grinding halt, she told AFP in Peshawar.
Our father has told us that if he is arrested by Pakistani authorities, we should not leave even then. Because we will have no life in Afghanistan.
Several schools for Afghan students in the capital Islamabad closed from Tuesday as families went into hiding, teachers told AFP.
Police and government officials in the city also oversaw the demolition of hundreds on Tuesday of illegally built mud houses where Afghans had been living in poverty.
Enough is enough, tell us the route and we will arrange a vehicle and leave today. This humiliation is too much, said 35-year-old Baaz Muhammad, who was born in Pakistan to refugee parents, as he watched a bulldozer raze his home.
- Unprecedented crackdown -
Pakistan has said the deportations are to protect the country's welfare and security after a sharp rise in attacks, which the government blames on militants operating from Afghanistan.
The policy has widespread support from Pakistanis, observers say, with a protracted refugee presence putting a heavy burden on the country's infrastructure.
More than 100,000 Afghan migrants have already left Pakistan since the start of October, when the government announced a one-month deadline for Afghans it says are living illegally in the country.
More than 80 percent have left via the northern Torkham border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the majority of Afghan migrants live.
Police in the province said they have not yet begun arrests as families leave voluntarily, but Afghan refugees in Karachi and Islamabad have reported arrests, harassment and extortion.
Lawyers and activists have said the scale of the crackdown is unprecedented, appealing for Afghans -- some of whom have lived for decades in the country -- to be given more time to pack up with dignity.
The Pakistani government is using threats, abuse, and detention to coerce Afghan asylum seekers without legal status to return to Afghanistan or face deportation, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
The situation in Afghanistan remains dangerous for many who fled, and deportation will expose them to significant security risks, including threats to their lives and well-being.