Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, referring to the recent situation of migrants and their treatment in Pakistan,  said that Islamabad deports Afghan migrants to put political and economic pressure on the Islamic Emirate.

Speaking at the ceremony of the completion of the first phase and the start of the second phase of the Qosh Tepa Canal, he criticized the situation of Afghan immigrants in Iran and Pakistan, saying that Afghan immigrants are being deported from Pakistan despite having legal documents.

"This action is against protocol and the agreement signed between Afghanistan, Pakistan and UNHCR. In that program, it was said that Afghans can return to Afghanistan whenever they want, not by force or pressure, but you see that this is used as pressure,” Stanikzai noted.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Ministry of States and Frontier Affairs in a statement said that Afghan refugees holding Proof of Registration (PoR) and Afghan Citizenship Cards (ACC) can temporarily live in the country and can only be repatriated on a voluntary basis.

In the statement, "relevant stakeholders" have been urged to stop harassing and arresting registered Afghan refugees as the behavior “would adversely affect Pakistan’s image and goodwill earned over the last forty-three years.”

In the ceremony he noted that throughout the history of Afghanistan, the water of the Amu River has not been used, and the use of the water of the river is the right of Afghanistan.

Stanikzai said that if Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are worried about the use of Amu water by Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate is ready to find diplomatic solutions.

According to Stanikzai, the Islamic Emirate is trying to bring the water that is the right of Afghanistan into the country in the right way that does not violate the rights of the neighbors along the river.

In the end, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs asked the Islamic countries and the United Nations to stop Israel's attack on Palestine.

In the ceremony, acting Minister of Defense Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, acting Minister of Interior Sirajuddin Haqqani, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, also participated.

This article was first published in Tolo News, Afghanistan