Paris, March 7 – A leading international press freedom organization expressed grave concern over a new wave of repression targeting Afghan refugees, including exiled journalists across Pakistan.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned that the escalating clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which Islamabad declared an "open war" on February 27, are being used as a pretext for the crackdown.
According to the organization, "Afghan journalists who have taken refuge in Pakistan are being arrested and threatened with deportation – and face a high risk of deadly reprisals if they are sent back to the Taliban regime."
RSF highlighted that multiple exiled Afghan journalists have been arrested in Pakistan over the past week amid rising military tensions between the two countries.
Those held in detention centers, it said, bring the total number recorded by RSF since the beginning of 2026 to nearly 20.
At least six journalists supported by RSF have been forcibly returned to Afghanistan in the last 15 days, bringing the total number recorded by the group to nine since January.
Emphasizing that several media professionals have shared their concerns, RSF quoted one of the journalists as saying: "Since February 27, the police have been conducting repeated checks and operations against Afghans in our area."
Many others, the RSF said, also spoke about the extortion by Pakistani forces, outside any legal framework.
"After spending a full day in a Pakistani police detention center, I was forced to pay 115,000 PKR (about 400 USD) to avoid deportation and secure my release. The next day, my landlord asked me to leave the premises," said one of the journalists interviewed by RSF.
RSF noted that these media professionals have all left Afghanistan because of the restrictions imposed by the Taliban regime, which is closing down media and persecuting those who still dare to report the news.
"The current explosive situation must not be used as a pretext for arbitrary arrests and expulsions. These reprisals are all the more unacceptable because they target media professionals who fled Afghanistan precisely because they were threatened by the Taliban. Arresting them and sending them back to their country amounts to delivering them to obvious dangers: arrest, violence, and worse," said Celia Mercier, Head of the RSF South Asia desk.
"RSF calls on the Pakistani authorities to immediately stop arresting and deporting Afghan journalists, to guarantee their effective protection and to respect the principle of non-refoulement," she added.
This intensification, RSF said, is part of a broader policy of expelling Afghan refugees by the Pakistani authorities that started in 2023, against a backdrop of tensions with the Taliban regime.