DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Pakistan's top court begins hearing challenge to expulsion of Afghans
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

More than 370,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan since Oct. 1, after Pakistan vowed to expel more than a million undocumented refugees, mostly Afghans, amid a row with Kabul over charges that it harbours anti-Pakistan militants. Children born to Afghan families in Pakistan could not be sent back due to their birthright, Gilani said. Pakistan is home to more than 4 million Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7 million of whom are undocumented. Islamabad has not heeded calls from international bodies and refugee agencies to reconsider its deportation plans. Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Clarence FernandezOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: I've, Umar Ijaz Gilani, Gilani, Asif Shahzad, Clarence Fernandez Organizations: REUTERS, Western, South, Thomson Locations: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Balochistan Province, Chaman, ISLAMABAD, Kabul, Taliban, U.S, Karachi, Islamabad

☆ Taliban minister raises issue of refugee assets during Pakistan visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Charlotte Greenfield | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Naseer Ahmed/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsISLAMABAD, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The Taliban's acting commerce minister met Pakistan's foreign minister in Islamabad this week, an Afghan embassy statement said on Tuesday, discussing trade and how the thousands of Afghan citizens Pakistan is expelling could take cash and other assets back to their homeland. Taliban officials say militancy is an internal matter for Pakistan and have called on Islamabad to halt its deportation of Afghan citizens. Afghan citizens returning to Afghanistan have said there are restrictions on the transfer of cash and property to Afghanistan from Pakistan, where many had built businesses and homes for decades. Last month, Pakistan set a Nov. 1 start date for the expulsion of all undocumented immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghans. Pakistan's foreign office said the Taliban acting commerce minister would also undertake a trilateral meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Uzbekistan on Tuesday.

Persons: Naseer Ahmed, Haji Nooruddin Azizi's, Jalil Abbas Jilani, Jilani, Charlotte Greenfield, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, United Nations, Thomson Locations: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Balochistan Province, Chaman, Rights ISLAMABAD, Islamabad, Afghan, Karachi, Western, Uzbekistan, South, Central Asia

☆ Pakistan opens new border crossings to expedite Afghans' repatriation
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Saleem Ahmed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Afghan nationals with belongings sit atop a truck as they head back with their families to Afghanistan from Pakistan, at the Chaman Border Crossing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan Border in Balochistan Province, in Chaman, Pakistan November 10, 2023. REUTERS/Naseer Ahmed/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsQUETTA, Pakistan, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Pakistan on Monday opened three new border crossings to accelerate the repatriation of undocumented Afghan nationals who have been ordered to leave the country or face expulsion, officials said. The new crossings were set up at the Afghan border in southwestern Balochistan province in addition to the main crossing in Chaman district, said Jan Achakzai, information minister for the provincial caretaker government. More than 280,000 Afghan nationals have left Pakistan since the new policy was announced in early October, according to the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR). Kabul has also asked Islamabad to give Afghan nationals ample time to leave.

Persons: Naseer Ahmed, Pakistan's, Jan Achakzai, Asif Shahzad, Hugh Lawson Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Monday, United Nations, Refugees, Thomson Locations: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Balochistan Province, Chaman, Rights QUETTA, Islamabad, Kabul, Afghan, Balochistan, UNHCR

☆ Pakistan Opens New Border Crossings to Expedite Afghans' Repatriation
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By Saleem AhmedQUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan on Monday opened three new border crossings to accelerate the repatriation of undocumented Afghan nationals who have been ordered to leave the country or face expulsion, officials said. Many Afghans have opted to go home voluntarily to avoid deportation under a government push for undocumented migrants to be expelled. The new crossings were set up at the Afghan border in southwestern Balochistan province in addition to the main crossing in Chaman district, said Jan Achakzai, information minister for the provincial caretaker government. More than 280,000 Afghan nationals have left Pakistan since the new policy was announced in early October, according to the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR). Kabul has also asked Islamabad to give Afghan nationals ample time to leave.

Persons: Saleem Ahmed, Pakistan's, Jan Achakzai, Asif Shahzad, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Reuters, Monday, United Nations, Refugees Locations: Saleem Ahmed QUETTA, Pakistan, Islamabad, Kabul, Afghan, Balochistan, Chaman, UNHCR

☆ Pakistan PM says expulsion of Afghans a response to Taliban non-cooperation
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Last month, Pakistan set a Nov. 1 start date for the expulsion of all undocumented immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghans. Kakar said 15 suicide bombings in recent months had been carried out by Afghans, and dozens of Afghans had been killed in clashes with Pakistani security forces. A spokesman for the Taliban administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment. There has been a resurgence of attacks by Islamist militants in Pakistan since talks between Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Pakistani state broke down in 2022. Kakar said that Pakistan had communicated to the Taliban administration that it had to "choose between Pakistan and the TTP".

Persons: Anwar ul Haq Kakar, Kakar, Gibran Peshimam, Alex Richardson Organizations: United Nations, Caretaker, Taliban, Thomson Locations: Afghan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Balochistan Province, Chaman, ISLAMABAD, Western, Islamabad, U.S, Tehreek, Taliban Pakistan, Pakistani

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghans fleeing Pakistan to avoid arrest and deportation are sleeping in the open, without proper shelter, food, drinking water and toilets once they cross the border to their homeland, aid agencies said Sunday. Pakistan set Oct.31 as a deadline to leave the country or else they'd be arrested as part of a new anti-migrant crackdown. Afghans leave Pakistan from two main border crossings, Torkham and Chaman. The Taliban say they have committees working “around the clock” to help Afghans by distributing food, water and blankets. Concerns have risen among the humanitarian community about the impoverished country being unable to support or integrate those currently forced to leave Pakistan.

Persons: Torkham, Kayal Mohammad, Hawa, ”, “, ” Thamindri Da Silva, Arshad Malik, ” Malik, Pope Francis Organizations: Associated Press, “ Locations: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Peshawar

☆ ‘There is no school for girls’: Afghans who fled to Pakistan sent back to a homeland that is foreign to many
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Sophia Saifi | Jessie Yeung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

“I was born in Pakistan, I’ve lived here for 42 years, I went to school in Pakistan,” said Nasim, who had traveled to the Torkham border crossing from the northern city Peshawar. Nasim, who was born and raised in Pakistan, and is now preparing to return to Afghanistan. International bodies and human rights groups have warned of a looming humanitarian disaster as they return. He hoped the Taliban would greet those forced out of Pakistan and help them find new jobs. The steady deterioration of human rights under the Taliban since its return to power have only confirmed the worst fears of many Afghans.

Persons: I’ve, ”, Nasim, “ I’ve, –, “, ” Nasim, Abdul Basit, Sarfraz Bugti, Ravina Shamdasani, Wakil Kohsar, Ghulam Sakhi, we’ve, Raza Muhammad, ” Muhammad, Akhtar Muhammad, Zahid Bahand, can’t, I’m Organizations: Pakistan CNN, CNN, ”, Getty, Security, Authorities, United Nations, Human Rights, Rights Watch, ” CNN, Interior Ministry, “ Police, UN, International Organization for Migration, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taliban Locations: Chaman, Pakistan, Pakistan’s, Peshawar, Afghanistan, ”, Quetta, “, Soviet, States, AFP, Afghan, Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Balochistan’s, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Kabul

☆ Pakistan speeds up Afghans' repatriation after deadline expires
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Mushtaq Ali | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Those arriving in Afghanistan complained of hardships they had to face to move out of Pakistan and uncertainty over their future. We had very bad situation," said Mohammad Ismael Rafi, 55, who said he lived for 22 years in the southwestern Pakistani border town of Chaman where he had a retail business. Pakistani authorities started rounding up foreigners, most of them Afghans, hours before the deadline. Khan, the official, said 19,744 Afghans had crossed the Torkham border on Thursday, 147,949 in total since the government announced the deadline. More than 35,000 undocumented Afghans have left through another southwestern Pakistani border crossing at Chaman.

Persons: Abdul Nasir Khan, Mohammad Ismael Rafi, Rafi, Sarfraz, Khan, Asif Shahzad, Ariba Shahid, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Kim Coghill, Nick Macfie Organizations: United Nations, Refugees, Kabul, Reuters, Authorities, Norwegian Refugee Council, Danish Refugee Council, International, Thomson Locations: burqa, Pakistan, UNHCR, Azakhel, Nowshera, PESHAWAR, Afghanistan, Torkham, Khyber, Pakistani, Chaman, Kandahar, Helmand province, Peshawar, U.S, Karachi, Kabul

☆ Pakistan Official: 104,000 Undocumented Afghans Returned to Afghanistan Through Torkham Border
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: 1 min

Persons: Abdul Khaliq Achakzai Organizations: REUTERS Locations: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Balochistan Province, Chaman

☆ Pakistan official: 104,000 undocumented Afghans returned to Afghanistan through Torkham border
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Afghan citizens wait with their belongings to cross into Afghanistan, after Pakistan gives the last warning to undocumented immigrants to leave, at the Friendship Gate of Chaman Border Crossing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan Border in Balochistan Province, in Chaman, Pakistan October 31, 2023. REUTERS/Abdul Khaliq Achakzai Acquire Licensing RightsPESHAWAR, Pakistan Nov 1 (Reuters) - More than 100,000 undocumented Afghan nationals have returned voluntary to Afghanistan through the northwestern Torkham border crossing in the last two weeks, a Pakistani government official said on Wednesday. Deputy Commissioner Abdul Nasir Khan said the Afghan nationals had traveled from across Pakistan to the border crossing. Pakistan's deadline to expel all undocumented immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals, is expiring later on Wednesday. Reporting by Mushtaq Ali; Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Abdul Khaliq Achakzai, Abdul Nasir Khan, Mushtaq Ali, Asif Shahzad, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Balochistan Province, Chaman, Rights PESHAWAR

CNN —Afghans who were promised a home in the United States after their country fell to the Taliban say they have waited so long for the US to process their applications that they are now being sent back to the enemy they fled. “They did not hand us over to the (Taliban) Afghan border forces,” he said. Many Afghans fled the Taliban after the August 15, 2021 fall of Kabul to the hard-line group. At least two Afghans awaiting P-2 visas have been swept up in this crackdown, CNN has learned, and complain of Pakistani police persecution. Afghans waiting in Pakistan have reported harassment by Pakistani police, including arrest and demands for money.

Persons: “, ”, Haseeb, Aafaq, ” Aafaq, “ I’m, Biden, sobbed Organizations: CNN, State Department, Pakistan’s, Interior Ministries, Afghanistan Immigrants Refugees Council, Getty, Support Center, US State Department, Foreign Locations: United States, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Afghan, Kabul, Taliban, USA, Pakistani, Chaman, AFP, Islamabad, Turkey, Tajikistan

Seventeen prisoners turned on their guards after they were taken out of their cells for morning prayers at Chaman district jail on Thursday, district officer Muhammad Naeem Achakzai, told CNN. One prisoner later surrendered to the police but 13 remain on the run, according to Achakzai. All the prisoners were awaiting trial for alleged crimes including murder, robbery and drug possession, Achakzai said. There is a possibility that the prisoners could have escaped to Afghanistan, prompting officers to patrol the border areas, Achakzai said. Police in Chaman suspended 10 officials, including three police officers who were posted at the jail, Achakzai said.

Persons: Muhammad Naeem Achakzai, Achakzai, “, ”, Eid Organizations: Balochistan CNN — Police, CNN, Police Locations: Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan, Chaman, Afghan, Afghanistan

☆ Main Afghan-Pakistani border crossing closed, residents report gunfire
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The main border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan was closed on Monday, officials from the two sides said, and residents in the area reported the sound of gunfire near the normally bustling border transit point. It was not immediately clear if Afghan or Pakistani authorities closed the Torkham border crossing, near the Khyber Pass, but it comes after relations between Afghanistan's ruling Taliban and Pakistan have deteriorated sharply. Media reported that the border was closed on Sunday evening but did not give a reason. Clashes between Afghan and Pakistani security forces have also at times closed the second most important crossing between the two countries, at Chaman to the south. A Taliban foreign ministry spokesperson said later Pakistan should raise issues in private and not at public forums.

☆ Cricket Afghan fans disappointed at Australia cancellation over women's rights
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/6] An Afghan man plays cricket on the snow-covered ground at the Chaman-e-Huzori field in Kabul, Afghanistan, January 13, 2023. "The decision by Australia made us very disappointed," said 25-year-old fruit seller Abdullah. Australia were scheduled to play a test match against Afghanistan in November 2021 but the fixture was postponed after the Taliban took power in August that year. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has criticised Australia's decision, saying it had put political interests over sportsmanship and that cricket had contributed to education and social development in the country. Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley defended the decision, saying "basic human rights" are not politics.

☆ One dead as fresh clashes erupt between Afghan, Pakistani border forces
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Gul Yousafzai | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Abdul Khaliq AchakzaiQUETTA, Pakistan, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Clashes erupted once again between the border forces of Afghanistan and Pakistan near the key Chaman-Spin Boldak border crossing on Thursday, resulting in one death and over a dozen injuries, Pakistani officials said. Thursday's fighting started when Pakistani forces repairing a portion of the border fence damaged during Sunday's clashes came under attack from the Afghan side of the frontier, a provincial official Balochistan, Zahid Saleem, told Reuters. Both sides blamed each other for instigating Sunday's clashes. Afghanistan's ministry of defence, run by the Taliban administration, said in a post on Twitter that Pakistani forces had opened fire first, and called for a resolution of the issue through negotiations. The police spokesman of the Afghan province of Kandahar did not reply to a Reuters request for comment on the casualties.

☆ Six Pakistanis, one Afghan soldier killed in cross-border clash
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Gul Yousafzai | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

QUETTA, Pakistan, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Six Pakistani civilians and one Afghan soldier were killed on Sunday in cross border shelling and gunfire, according to officials on both sides of the frontier. Six civilians were killed and another 17 wounded on the Pakistani side by the Afghan fire, leading Pakistani troops to retaliate, the Pakistan military said in a statement. Afghan security sources said the clash started after Pakistani forces demanded Afghan forces stop building a new checkpost on their side of the border. Kandahar police spokesman Hafiz Saber said one Afghan soldier was killed and 10 other people, including three civilians, were injured. The busy Afghan border crossing at Chaman, used for trade and transit, was closed for some hours before reopening, officials on both sides said.

☆ Pakistan reopens Afghan crossing shut after border hostilities
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Gul Yousafzai | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Saeed Ali Achakzai/File PhotoQUETTA, Pakistan, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Pakistan has reopened a major Afghan border crossing that was shut for trade and transit after security forces clashed last week, officials from both sides said on Monday. As the crossing opened on Monday, three people were wounded in another clash reported on a northwestern border with Afghanistan, an Afghan official said. A Pakistani security official said the fresh exchange of fire killed one member of border personnel and wounded nine other people. "We are going to meet senior Pakistani officials to find an amicable solution," he said. The Pakistan military did not respond to a request for comment, but a Pakistan security official said there has been regular border management coordination with Afghan authorities, adding that details of Afghan investigations into last week's hostilities will be shared with Pakistan in due course.

Search resuls for: "Chaman"

17 mentions found