In a Vice

Refugees from Afghanistan are facing twin pressures in Pakistan. On the one hand, Pakistan wants to get rid of them as quickly as possible. The Pakistani police are currently carrying out many deportations again. The muezzins call on people to report Afghans to the police via loudspeakers from the minarets. For corrupt officials, migrants from the neighboring country are a welcome source of income because they can be blackmailed.

Those who are sent back to Afghanistan are not safe. This is especially true for women, members of ethnic minorities, and Christians. Afghans can only live in hiding in Pakistan. I visit a Christian shelter where some of these “silent believers” are hiding. Their difficulties and challenges shake me to the core.

Suffering in secret

Out of fear of being discovered and deported, Afghans in Pakistan do not even dare to turn on the lights in their homes. One man tells me that he and his family are currently afraid to leave their house. Another family reports that they all sleep together in a back room – for fear that the light might give them away. Two weeks ago, the police came and arrested 18 people. They were sent back.

A mother tells me that she only leaves the house early in the morning in the dark to buy food. The children stay at home, terrified that their mother will be taken away and they will be left to fend for themselves. Going to school is out of the question for these children.

A father confides in me that his ten-year-old son needs life-saving heart surgery. But without a valid residence permit, this is not possible. The boy cannot be admitted to hospital and his father cannot work to pay for the operation. “We are locked up like in a prison,” sums up one of those affected.

Dangerous return

Due to the current conflict with Afghanistan, Pakistan is no longer issuing visas. In recent months, visas have only been issued for three or even one month. To renew an expired visa, an official stamp is required in the passport, and this is only given at the border when entering Pakistan. The Afghans would therefore have to return to Afghanistan, where the Taliban are waiting for them.

For them, the returnees are easy prey. The Taliban interrogate them and investigate where they have been in Pakistan. If they find out that they are Christians, their death sentence is sealed. Almost all the Afghans I meet in Pakistan have lost relatives in this way. Many families are separated, many people suffer from depression.

King's daughters

Women in Afghanistan are increasingly being degraded to complete worthlessness and lack of rights. One of the refugees tells me about an outrageous example of this: during the recent earthquake, several houses collapsed, burying women beneath the rubble. When the rescue workers located them, they stopped the rescue efforts with the excuse that they were waiting for female rescuers to recover the women. Since none came, the buried women died.

Nevertheless, these people impress me with their laughter and their trust in God. An Afghan woman sums up the attitude of her Christian compatriots: “I know that I am a child of God, a daughter of the King of kings. And despite all circumstances, I believe that He is with me, will rescue me, and give me peace.”