Pakistan: Islamabad Police detain Afghanistan immigrants

Even though they had visas and passports, some immigrants said Pakistani police arbitrarily detained them, reports Khaama Press.

"I've been told there were seventeen people arrested, and then the number rose. They frighten and threatened people in automobiles in a dangerous way. Both those with passports and those without were being detained until morning,” Mir Ahmad Rufi, the head of the Afghan Immigrant Council in Pakistan, told Tolo News.

Some of the detained persons, who were granted bail, later spoke on the manner in which the police arrested them.

"We were detained overnight at the police station from twelve until seven in the morning. They then arrived and began questioning. They looked at our visa and passport. Then ... they freed us,” an Afghan immigrant in Pakistan told Tolo News.

The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR), calling to refrain from politicizing the issue of immigrants in Pakistan, urged the neighbors—especially Pakistan—to treat the Afghan immigrants in accordance with international norms.

"Pakistan is our neighbor, and the Afghans who have moved there have done so in order to live in safety. They ought to be treated as immigrants and be given rights in accordance with the international principles and laws,” said Abdulmutallab Haqqani, the spokesman of the MoRR.