ISLAMABAD: Mirwais Gul, 21, whose family belongs to the Qarabagh district in Kabul, Afghanistan, was born and raised in Pakistan. Now living in I-11 slums near Pir Wadhai Adda in capital city Islamabad, he displays his identity card, which states he is an Afghan citizen.
“This card has become very important now,” he says. “Police raided our neighbourhood about a week ago and took away all Afghans whose cards had expired or who had no proof of being registered Afghan citizens.”
Gul speaks fluent Pashto and Urdu. Conversing with Pathans living close to him, it is hard to determine he is Afghan. “I feel very Pakistani, but the police have recently been reminding me I’m Afghan,” he says. “When they came here looking for Afghan men a few days ago, they took about 150 of them.”
After the ruthless Peshawar school massacre on December 16 that killed some 150 people, almost all of them students, the government has accelerated its efforts to put in place stringent security checks. Even as media reports suggest the attack could have been coordinated by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from its base in Afghanistan, the government is instilling fear among many Afghans by raiding their neighbourhoods in quick succession. On December 23, the police and Rangers carried out a joint operation in Shehzad Town, Islamabad, and arrested an alleged Afghan terrorist along with eight other suspects. “People are fearful of raids here as those detained are kept in prison for two to three days,” says Gul. “Although they are usually released soon after interrogation, their families are left concerned.” INTERNEWS
