Pakistani Police Detains Afghan Women’s Rights Activist

Pakistani police have arrested Zahra Mousavi, a human rights activist and member of the Afghan Women’s Justice Movement, after entering her home in civilian attire. According to her relatives, she was taken into custody due to an expired visa.

Human rights activists have voiced concern over her possible deportation to Afghanistan and are working to prevent it.
Mousavi’s husband, Mahmood Qasemi, confirmed her arrest in an interview with Afghanistan International’s Pashto section. He stated that Pakistani authorities transferred her, along with other refugees, to a migrant camp. “We have contacted all organisations working on refugee issues, but we have not yet received any news,” Qasemi said.

Rahila Talash, a human rights activist and close friend of Mousavi, told Afghanistan International that she has been moved to a deportation camp. She expressed hope that intervention efforts would prevent her forced return to Afghanistan. Talash added that Pakistani police took Mousavi to the camp along with her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. She warned that the deportation of journalists and human rights defenders, particularly women, would put them in grave danger.

Talash called on international human rights organisations and the United Nations to take immediate action against the forced expulsion of Afghan refugees. She stressed that sending activists back to Afghanistan would be equivalent to putting their lives at risk.

The Pakistani government, in a meeting led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on 29 January, approved the mass deportation of Afghan refugees. Following this decision, authorities in Islamabad launched a widespread crackdown, detaining and deporting thousands of Afghan citizens. The Taliban embassy in Islamabad has confirmed that the plan to expel all Afghan migrants from Rawalpindi and Islamabad, except those with valid visas, has been finalised and will be strictly enforced.