Pressure mounts on German govt over Afghans stranded in Pakistan
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BERLIN: More than 250 human rights groups and other NGOs renewed pressure on the German government on Tuesday to take in hundreds of Afghans stranded in Pakistan who had been offered sanctuary by Berlin.
The organisations, including Amnesty International, Save the Children, Human Rights Watch and church groups, urged the government to bring the roughly 1,800 Afghans to Germany from Pakistan before the end of the year.
Those affected must be evacuated in the coming weeks to protect them from deportation back to Afghanistan, the groups said.
The Afghans were accepted under a refugee scheme set up by the previous German government, but have been stuck in Pakistan since conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office in May and froze the programme.
Around 350 people on the scheme have been able to come to Germany after winning legal challenges against the government in German courts.
UNHCR survey shows only 1.2m of 2m Afghans in Pakistan are registered
According to the open letter sent to the German government by the NGOs on Tuesday, most of those left in Afghanistan are women and children.
“Especially now, during the Christmas season, we remember humanity and compassion. Therefore, we appeal to you: finally bring those to whom we have promised protection to safety,” the letter said.
Those affected include those who served with German armed forces in Afghanistan, as well as journalists and human rights activists.
Germany says it has received assurances from the Pakistan government that the Afghans on the scheme would not be deported before the year end, but this deadline cannot be extended.
UNHCR data
According to the UN refugee agency data released on Tuesday, a population count of Afghans living in Pakistan revealed that they number over 2.18 million, out of whom 1.22m are registered, with only 35pc of registered Afghans living in refugee villages.
It shows over 1.09m registered Afghan refugees holding PoR cards. According to the UN body, this figure does not include 138,701 unregistered members of registered families.
The number of asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR is 115,652, out of which Afghans number 115,390. Others are from Yemen, Iran, Somalia, Myanmar and Syria.
“The statistics of registered asylum seekers have been revised as a result of verification exercise,” the UN refugee agency says.
Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2025
