Category World News

In a move referred to by Afghanistan as “forced deportation,” Pakistan has confirmed that it has repatriated more than 80 000 Afghan nationals since April 1, in addition to Pakistan’s largest migrant group’s extended April 30 deadline.

The Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan, which was introduced in late 2023 and covers more than three million Afghans, would no longer be extended, according to Talal Chaudhry, Pakistan’s interior ministry official, in Islamabad on Friday.

If a person gives a shop, home, or any other kind of space to an illegal foreigner, they will be held legally accountable, he said in clear instructions to all provinces.

Prior to March 31, those who were denied access to Afghan Citizen Cards or valid documents were initially ordered to leave. That deadline was later changed to a month.

Since the start of April, Pakistan has expelled nearly 60, 000 Afghans, according to the International Organization for Migration, a UN agency.

The head of the IOM’s Afghanistan mission, Mihyung Park, said at the time, “With a new wave of large-scale returns now coming from Pakistan, needs on the ground are rising rapidly, both at the border and in areas where large numbers of returnees are struggling to withstand large numbers of returnees.”

More than 1.3 million Afghans who use UNHCR’s Proof of Registration cards were also instructed to leave Islamabad and the nearby Rawalpindi.

Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s foreign minister, will travel to Kabul on Saturday to meet with a delegation to discuss important issues with the Taliban-led government.

According to a statement from Pakistan’s foreign office, “the talks will cover the entire gamut of the Pakistan-Afghan relationship, focusing on ways and means to deepen cooperation in all areas of mutual interests, including security, trade, connectivity, and people-to-people ties.”

We don’t want to leave, we say.

Afghan families who have resided in the nation for decades are at risk of being displaced by the crackdown.

Akber Khan, the owner of a restaurant in Peshawar, told The Associated Press news agency earlier this month: “I have been here for almost 50 years. 10 of my family members are interred here, along with my husband, and my children. We don’t want to leave, because of this.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the northwest of Pakistan, live at least a third of the Afghans Pakistan wants to expel this year.

Afghans can never be completely repatriated, especially those who are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because they return via illegal channels or by exploiting system gaps, according to Abdullah Khan, managing director of the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, according to Al Jazeera.

“Security threat”

Kabul, which has consistently criticized Islamabad for making connections between Afghan refugees and growing security threats and criminal activity within its borders, refutes Kabul’s claims that the campaign was politically motivated and forced deportation.

Authorities in Pakistan claim to have processed and accommodated Afghan nationals before returning to their homelands.

The main gateway into eastern Afghanistan is Torkham border crossing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the majority of the people are being transported.

The repatriation drive has received criticism from human rights organizations because it poses a risk to vulnerable people, particularly children and women, who may be subject to insecurity or persecution upon return.

Online romance scams are a dark and growing trend that flourishes on digital platforms where swindlers take advantage of the desire to find love. These scams frequently involve emotional manipulation and blackmail, which can cause victims significant financial harm.

Dating apps, social media platforms, and websites are increasingly popular with potential partners as well as a prime location for scammers to hunt down.

Presenter: Anelise Borges

According to a joint statement released on Thursday, the humanitarian aid system in Gaza “is facing total collapse” as a result of the last 18 months of Israel’s military operation and the recent beginning of a full blockade.

Due to “widespread and indiscriminate bombing making it extremely dangerous to move around,” it added, an estimated 95 percent of the 43 international and Palestinian aid organizations have already suspended or cut their services in Gaza.

Bushra Khalil, policy director of the aid organization Oxfam, said that “kids are struggling to find their next meal.” “Everyone is merely consuming canned food,” according to the statement. “Gaza is experiencing famine and malnourishment without a doubt.”

Aid workers have been forced to watch people suffer and die, according to Amande Bazerolle, the emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, as they carry “the impossible burden of providing relief with exhausted supplies.”

She said, “This is not a humanitarian failure; it is a political choice and a deliberate assault on a people’s capacity to survive, carried out with impunity.”

Hani Mahmoud of Al Jazeera reported on Friday that the enclave was running out of baby formula, leaving malnourished children and young people in Gaza City.

“We’ve seen a lot of severe malnutrition cases,” he said. Even the most vulnerable, such as children and newborn babies, cannot families provide for their most basic needs. The market and pharmacy lacks baby formula, according to Mahmoud. “Gaza is quickly running out of everything.”

Palestinians told Al Jazeera that they are losing their children to malnutrition outside of Deir el-Balah Hospital.

Fadi Ahmed, who lost his son, claimed that hospital staff “found massive lungs that caused a severe lack of oxygen in his blood.”

After spending a week in the hospital, the boy’s weakness and severe malnutrition caused his inability to resist and eventually his death.

Grandma’s granddaughter Intisar Hamdan claimed he and his parents had been unable to get any milk for three days and that he had lost their grandson.

According to Tareq Abu Azzoum of Al Jazeera, “children are suffering from serious medical complications and diseases that cannot be easily treated and require medical supplies that are scarce.”

At least 60 000 children in the Palestinian territory are categorized as malnourished, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Gaza is known as the “deadliest place on earth for humanitarian workers,” according to the aid organizations, making it even more challenging to provide services to children.

Despite international humanitarian law’s requirement that humanitarian and health workers be protected, more than 400 aid workers and 1,300 health workers have died in Gaza since October 2023.

The recent murder of 15 Palestinian rescue workers and paramedics, whose bodies were discovered in a mass grave, sparked outcry worldwide, but many crimes and attacks remain unreported, according to the statement.

Patrice Motsepe, a South African mining billionaire and vice president of FIFA, owned Mamelodi Sundowns, which violated safety and security regulations by hosting a game against Esperance of Tunisia on April 1st, according to a late Thursday CAF disciplinary ruling.

Motsepe was elected unopposed last month and has served as the president of the African football organization CAF for four years.

Sundowns, according to the African football organization, is “required to strictly implement the safety and security measures specified in the CAF regulations, guidelines, and directives, especially in their upcoming matches.”

According to CAF, Esperance was fined $150, 000 for the fan misconduct related to the first-leg clashes in the stands during the quarterfinal match.

Sundowns won the first game 1-0 in Pretoria before moving on to the semifinals a week later when the return match ended goalless in Tunis. In the first leg of the semifinals on Saturday, the South African team takes on Al Ahly of Egypt, a second Club World Cup team.

As two of FIFA’s first 32-team Club World Cup entries, Sundowns and Esperance will both be exhibiting in the US in June.

Both qualified because of consistently strong CAF Champions League performance through 2024.

Sundowns will play games in Orlando, Cincinnati, and Miami as part of a Club World Cup group that includes South Korean players Ulsan, Borussia Dortmund, Germany, and Fluminense of Brazil.

Because Esperance belongs to the same ownership as another Mexican team that qualified, Pachuca, FIFA disqualified it from the group with Chelsea of England, Brazil’s Flamengo, and a third team that was supposed to be Leon. Philadelphia and Nashville are the locations of those games.