'No one to return to:' Afghan citizens fear Pak deportation

Pakistan gave us our smile and now those smiles are being taken away: Benazir Raufi; I have freedom (in Pakistan) ― and my daughter can go to school, but there's no future for me or my daughter in Afghanistan, says Dua Safay

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Benazir Raufi stands alone in her restaurant, her staff and customers too afraid to visit after Pakistan's government announced it was cancelling the residence permits of hundreds of thousands of Afghans.

Islamabad announced at the start of March that 800,000 Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) would be cancelled-the second phase of a deportation programme which has already forced 800,000 undocumented Afghans across the border.

“If I’m deported, it will destroy my life. My heart will stop. It’ll take me from life,” 43-year-old Raufi, who was 13 years old when her family fled civil war in Afghanistan in the 1990s, told AFP: “Pakistan gave us our smile and now those smiles are being taken away.”

An Afghan women who worked for her have refused to leave home after the restaurant in Rawalpindi was raided by police-facing deportation in a country where women are banned from studying, certain jobs and visiting some public places like parks.

“I have no one to return to. The Taliban won’t accept us,” Raufi added, her voice cracking.

The government’s deadline for ACC holders to leave voluntarily has been pushed back to April, but harassment by authorities has been underway for months, according to activists.