Hundreds of Afghan nationals are currently serving sentences in Pakistani detention centers without trial, or even being told why they have been imprisoned in some cases, according to Afghan officials.
Although he estimated the number could reach up to 1,000 Afghan citizens, the Afghan Consulate General in the Pakistani province of Khaibar Pakhtoonkha (KPK) told TOLOnews accurate statistics were hard to come by because many of the cases were never properly documented by Pakistani authorities.
"Up to 1,000 Afghans are spending jail terms in KPK prisons, and in my meetings with Pakistani officials I have raised the issue and informed them about the concerns of the Afghan government," the Afghan Consulate General in KPK province Syed Mohammad Ibrahimkhail said. "I don't have sufficient information about the situations of Afghan detainees in Pakistani jails and UNHCR has done nothing for them," he said referring to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees.
There are said to be over two million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, who have fled violence and persecution in their home country over the past few decades.
Ibrahimkhail said that he had been in touch with a number of the families of detainees and they were concerned about the states of health their relatives were in.
He said any coordination between Islamabad and Kabul on the matter had not yet occurred.
"Unfortunately, a commission has yet to be formed between the two countries, and I have persistently discussed the issue with the Pakistani side and shared the topic with the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad," Ibrahimkhail said.
For now, it seems Ibrahimkhail and the local families of those detained are the only ones concerned with the situation. Meanwhile, officials in Kabul have been focusing their diplomatic leverage on getting former insurgents like Mullah Baradar released from Pakistani custody.
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