Amid clashes with Kabul, Pakistan tells Ottawa it won’t deport Canada-bound paperless Afghan migrants | 24CA News

In an obvious reversal from an announcement this fall, Pakistan’s authorities has instructed Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada it won’t deport paperless Afghan migrants or throw them in jail after the top of this month, however slightly impose fines or maybe a ban on their return to Pakistan.

“The Government of Pakistan has indicated that the only enforcement action that could be taken against foreigners overstaying their visas will be the re-imposition of fines and potentially being blacklisted from returning to Pakistan,” the Immigration Department mentioned in a press release to CBC. 

As a rustic neighbouring Afghanistan, Pakistan has been a go-to vacation spot for Afghan migrants hoping to qualify for Canada’s resettlement program. Twenty-one constitution flights carrying Afghans from Islamabad have come to Canada this yr, in keeping with IRCC. 

In October, Pakistan’s Ministry of the Interior had began operating advertisements on tv and social media telling migrants to the nation whose visas had expired that they’d danger deportation or jail time after Dec. 31, 2022. 

Those advertisements didn’t explicitly goal any ethnicity however ran in Urdu, Pakistan’s nationwide language, in addition to Pashto and Dari, two languages which can be generally spoken by Afghans.

In November, Pakistan’s High Commission in Ottawa instructed 24CA News that Afghans with legitimate visas/paperwork for onward journey can be “facilitated by the government of Pakistan.” 

This newest change comes because the nation’s relationship with Afghanistan has deteriorated. Pakistan continued to carry diplomatic ties with the Taliban after it took over Kabul in September 2021. 

But since final month, the 2 international locations have been concerned in border clashes. As nicely, inmates belonging to a Pakistan off-shoot of the Taliban took over a Pakistani jail and there was a gunfire assault on Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul. 

Pakistan caught in ‘murky politics:’ knowledgeable

With no sense of how a lot worse the battle might get, one observer of the area mentioned migrants might nicely stay in limbo.

“The murky politics of the region are now coming home to roost for Pakistan,” mentioned Elliot Tepper, a professor of worldwide relations at Carleton University in Ottawa. 

He mentioned Islamabad supported the Taliban for years till the latter’s return to energy in 2021, hoping to foster a regional ally. 

“They thought they were buying that strategic depth, the friend in Kabul that they required,” he mentioned. “Now that the Taliban are back in power, they are looking after their own traditional interests, and those interests conflict with Pakistan’s.” 

Tepper mentioned this has left Afghan migrants who had been former Canadian army personnel within the lurch.

“The people who have helped us materially … those that we owe, that we have an obligation to, and people in Canada are working to assist, they are paying the cost of this politics between the powers of Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he mentioned. 

Migrants involved

Between the federal government advert, the uncertainty over the battle between the 2 international locations and the lengthy look forward to Immigration Canada to course of their functions to fly to Canada, some migrants had been nonetheless fearful. 

“We are waiting and waiting for the email [for] when will we be able to get our flights,” mentioned one former Canadian army interpreter residing in Islamabad together with his spouse and 10 kids. 

24CA News has agreed to not title him, as his brothers, who additionally served with the Canadian army, are nonetheless residing in Kandahar City. 

All of them are targets of the Taliban.

He and his rapid household moved to Islamabad in May, arriving legally on visas that price him $6,000 US in financial savings. 

But he has been unable to resume the paperwork after it expired, and different bills piled up with no revenue, as he doesn’t have the appropriate to work in Pakistan.

“The money which I had, I just spent the whole money on [the family],” he mentioned, enumerating “shoes, clothes, medicine or buying fruits or buying something for the kids.” 

The interpreter has accomplished his utility to Canada and is now ready to see whether or not he might be accepted or rejected.

Returning to Afghanistan ‘is suicide’

Mohammad Younas Nasimi has been ready longer, having arrived in Islamabad together with his household final yr.

The former Canadian army contractor mentioned he can’t sustain that wait, as he eyed the Dec. 31 deadline. 

Rather than danger jail for him and his household in Pakistan, or all of them being handed over to the Taliban, he mentioned he’ll sneak again throughout the border alone.

“I know that going back … is suicide,” he mentioned. But he believes he faces higher possibilities eking out a residing for his spouse and 6 kids in Afghanistan.

Nasimi has been corresponding with the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi over his immigration file for months, all the time receiving replies telling him his case was nonetheless being processed.

He confirmed 24CA News an embassy reply to one in every of his final emails, the place he had allow them to know he was considering of going again to Afghanistan, and asking for recommendation. 

“We are sorry to hear about the very challenging circumstances,” the embassy had written again. 

“We encourage you to take whatever lawful steps you deem necessary outside of this application, to provide for the safety and security of yourselves and your family.”