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Hostility towards Afghans has spread to Pakistani Pashtuns: Gandapur
Chief Minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Ali Amin Gandapur has said that hostility towards Afghans has spread to Pakistani Pashtuns.
In a letter to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Gandapur accused the police of the “arbitrary rounding up” of “Pashtun labourers in Islamabad” and warned that “such actions risk fostering a sense of alienation and exclusion among communities,” AFP reported.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said it was “deeply concerned by the alleged ethnic profiling of ordinary Pashtun citizens” and called on Islamabad police to refrain from actions “that create divisions among various communities living in the country”.
A campaign to deport undocumented Afghans was launched over a year ago as political ties between the neighbouring governments frayed and Pakistan’s economic and security woes worsened.
In recent months, however, Islamabad and the police have also started alleging Afghan involvement in opposition unrest over the imprisonment of former prime minister Imran Khan.
The Afghan embassy in Islamabad has denied any involvement by Afghans in political activities in Pakistan.