Exiled Afghan journalists face renewed peril after police in Pakistan’s capital nabbed Ubaidullah Ahmadi, a freelance reporter, in a stark illustration of the country’s hardline migrant policy. The custody without charges has intensified debates on refuge and rights.
With no word from Pakistani law enforcement on the arrest’s basis, the episode aligns with vigorous campaigns raiding homes to identify and repatriate unauthorized Afghans. Press monitors and advocacy outfits confirm scores of journalists caught in the net, often without essential legal shields.
Held individuals decry the life-threatening risks of deportation to Taliban territory. Human rights and journalism coalitions have sounded alarms, imploring Pakistan to fulfill its mandates on journalist security and media liberty.
Amu TV, citing Reporters Without Borders (RSF), chronicles the deportations: 20 Afghan journalists ousted in 2025, defying non-refoulement tenets per Pakistani press accounts and RSF files. Such practices overtly breach global safeguards, haunting remaining journalists with prospects of detention, payoffs, and swift banishment.
Post-2021 Taliban control, some 200 reporters fled to Pakistan amid vengeance fears, leaning on RSF for pathways to the West. Resettlement bottlenecks have mired them in extended vulnerability.
Mid-2025 onwards, scant permit renewals for Afghans threaten masses with irregularity status. The prior six months mark a spike in journalist-specific seizures, custodies, and expulsions.
This unfolding saga demands scrutiny, positioning Pakistan at a crossroads where honoring international norms could avert tragedy for those chronicling Afghanistan’s darkest chapters.