Malala urges Pakistan to treat Afghan refugees with kindness, halt deportations

Social activist Malala Yousafzai urged Pakistani authorities to halt the repatriation of Afghan refugees, citing Afghanistan's deteriorating human rights conditions that pose a serious threat to the future of young girls and women.

Taking to X, Malala expressed her deep concern, saying, “I am devastated to see thousands of vulnerable Afghan refugees deported from Pakistan to live under the Taliban’s brutal regime of gender apartheid.”

Highlighting the uncertain fate awaiting Afghan women upon their return, Malala emphasised that the Taliban's strict gender-based restrictions are depriving women of all basic rights, including access to education, employment, and freedom of expression.

Read: Public executions of four men in Afghanistan draw criticism from human rights groups

She acknowledged Pakistan’s decades-long role in sheltering Afghan refugees, allowing them to integrate into local communities and treating families "fleeing war and violence  with kindness and hospitality.”

However, Malala stressed that Afghanistan remains unsafe for returning refugees, whose future in their homeland is marred by fear and oppression. “The government must halt these deportations, protect vulnerable families, and ensure girls can go to school,” she asserted.

Check: Afghan refugees born in Pakistan request nationality

Malala also urged the international community to take strong notice of the ongoing human rights violations in Afghanistan and to officially recognise the Taliban’s policies as “gender apartheid,” which disproportionately target and oppress women.

Concluding her message, she called for urgent global action, stating, “Until then, the world must offer refuge, not rejection.”