Afghans hiding in Pakistan live in fear of forced deportation

Pakistani officials have set a deadline to expel foreign nationals living illegally in the country.

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The 10-year-old's life is limited to her one-bedroom home in Islamabad and the dirt road outside it. Since December she hasn't been to her local school, when it decided it would no longer accept Afghans without a valid Pakistani birth certificate. But even if she could go to classes, Nabila says she wouldn't.

"I was off sick one day, and I heard police came looking for Afghan children," she cries, as she tells us her friend's family were sent back to Afghanistan.

Nabila's not her real name - all the names of Afghans quoted in this article have been changed for their safety.

Pakistan's capital and the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi are witnessing a surge in deportations, arrests and detentions of Afghans, the UN says. It estimates that more than half of the three million Afghans in the country are undocumented.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgl00ler0rno

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