CPJ calls on Pakistani authorities to end harassment, deportation of Afghan journalists

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 23 January 2025 |  CPJ News Alert

NEW YORK—Pakistani authorities must stop deporting and harassing Afghan journalists who have fled Afghanistan because of threats to their lives, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

During the first week of January 2025, Pakistani security forces detained two Afghan journalists and their families before deporting them to Afghanistan, according to a letter the independent watchdog group, the Pak-Afghan International Forum of Journalists, sent to CPJ on January 16. The letter did not disclose the names of the deported journalists, who are members of the forum.

Separately, Afghan journalists Mujeeb Awrang and Ahmad Mosavi confirmed to CPJ that on January 3 Pakistani authorities detained them at their homes in the capital, Islamabad, and held them in a vehicle for three hours, despite having presented valid Pakistani visas and Afghan passports. The journalists said they were threatened with imprisonment and deportation before being released without explanation.

“Pakistan’s security agencies must immediately halt the harassment and deportation of Afghan journalists,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “These journalists fled Afghanistan due to the Taliban’s threats to their lives. The Pakistani government must protect them, not mistreat them.”

The Pakistani government has instructed Afghan nationals, including journalists, to relocate from Islamabad and the nearby city of Rawalpindi to other cities by January 15, according to a report by the London-based independent media outlet Afghanistan International and a Pakistani journalist, who spoke to CPJ anonymously for fear of reprisal.

Afghan journalists continue to face imprisonment and persecution by the Taliban, with Afghan News Agency reporter Mahdi Ansary, sentenced on January 1 to 18 months in prison on charges of disseminating anti-Taliban propaganda.

CPJ did not receive a response to its text asking for comment from Pakistan’s federal information minister, Attaullah Tarar.

Photo caption: This photo taken on November 10, 2023, shows an Afghan journalist who arrived in Pakistan after Kabul's takeover by the Taliban and is currently waiting for a French visa, after Pakistan announced it will expel illegal Afghan refugees. On January 3, 2025, Afghan journalists Mujeeb Awrang and Ahmad Mosavi were briefly detained by Pakistani authorities in Islamabad and threatened with imprisonment and deportation to Afghanistan. (Photo: AFP/Farooq Naeem)