Illegal Immigrants Dilemma

Shazia Mehboob

Islamabad: Illegal immigrants living in Pakistan have only 26 days left to leave the country or face imprisonment and deportation if they fail to meet the given deadline.

With the deadline looming, federal and provincial enforcement agencies are scrambling to put together a viable plan to undertake what could safely be described as one of the biggest deportation operations in modern times. Officials involved in the process revealed that authorities were struggling to put together a plan to repatriate an unspecified number of illegal immigrants, mostly Afghan.

It is a bitter reality that Pakistan has experienced difficult security challenges, with far-reaching consequences for its political stability and economic prosperity. The evidence of transnational entities’ involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan necessitates immediate response.

However, Pakistan is a party to the United Nations charters on human rights, which require it to deal with some situations through the lens of compassion, because not all illegal immigrants are involved in terrorist activities. There are those that are significantly contributing to national growth.

Pakistan is a diverse country with a long history of immigration from all over the world, including Afghan, Bengali, Rohingya, and other stateless people. This is a global issue, not one of a single state.

Stateless individuals are those who are “not recognized as nationals by any state under the operation of its law.” A stateless person is someone who does not have nationality from any country.

There are around 10 million stateless people worldwide, including approximately three million residing in Pakistan. The vast majority of them live in one of 126 stateless communities in Karachi. They are the people who have been living in Pakistan for decades and whose children were born here.

These are the people who are not eligible for the basic rights that every Pakistani has, but they have been living in this country for decades and contributing to the national development just as much as the rest of us.

In a rally in Karachi in 2018, former prime minister Imran Khan acknowledged the plight of these stateless people who had lived in Pakistan for decades. He pledged that the legislation would be amended to offer citizenship to immigrants from the Afghan and Bengali-speaking communities.

We wonder if the caretaker government is looking into this matter for the stateless immigrants who have no place of origin other than Pakistan.

If this pledge had been practiced, about 1.5 million Afghans and 200,000 Bengali-speaking people would have been protected from the problems that have arisen as a result of this announcement of this deadline.

The tone and language of the state’s representatives reflect that it doesn’t matter whether they entered the country illegally or not, whether they have been productive for the betterment of this country, or whether they have worked hard to obtain legal status in this country. If they don’t have citizenship and don’t leave the country within this deadline, they will face consequences, which could be imprisonment and deportation or both.

Nothing is above the state interest in terms of security quandary, and the state is responsible for taking measures to ensure protection from the causes contributing negatively to the state affairs. There is no doubt that Pakistan has been combating terrorism for decades, and the recent surge in terrorist activities on Pakistani soil demands a comprehensive security plan to root out these anti-state actions.

The decision was taken during the meeting of the Apex Committee of the National Action Plan (NAP). Terrorism has posed substantial concerns to the country for several decades. These terrorism implications have had wide-ranging consequences for the country and the region as a whole.

However, it cannot be denied that the situation regarding illegal immigrants in Pakistan is complex and multifaceted, necessitating a multi-faceted approach in consultation with international organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to protect stateless people from additional suffering caused by the announcement of this deadline.

There is a need to handle the issue sensitively because it is not only about illegal immigration but also about humanity. Pakistan is a signatory to the United Nations human rights treaties, that require the state to tackle the situation through the perspective of human rights.

For me, the decision to deal with illegal immigration in a month, a problem that has grown over decades, is not one that can be addressed in a month but rather has additional implications for Pakistan.

I’m leaving this answer to the reader.

Is a short-term solution to the long-term problem possible?