Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has urged Pakistan to stop deporting undocumented Afghans, expressing deep concern over the ‘dark future’ awaiting women and girls sent back to Afghanistan.
“It is deeply concerning that Pakistan is forcing Afghan refugees based in Pakistan back into Afghanistan, and I’m deeply concerned about the women and girls,” Malala said in an interview this week.
“A lot of these girls in Pakistan were studying, they were in school, these women were doing work,” said Malala, 27, who grew up in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. “I hope that Pakistan reverses its policy and that they protect girls and women especially because of the dark future that they would be witnessing in Afghanistan,” she added.
Speaking on her birthday, recognized by the UN as Malala Day, the activist highlighted the plight of girls in Afghanistan, the only country where girls over 12 are banned from school. “I cannot believe that I’m witnessing a time when girls have been banned from their education for more than three years,” she said, praising the resilience of Afghan activists.
The Malala Fund is campaigning for the UN to broaden the definition of crimes against humanity to include “gender apartheid,” a term used to describe the situation in Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, the UN and Taliban held talks in Doha for the first time since the latter came to power, but without women in attendance.—INP
