Crackdown on Afghan Journalist amid Pakistani Refugee Enforcement

October 23, 2025 – Afghanistan – 

An Afghan journalist named Javed Qureshi was arrested by Pakistani police in the city of Attock, as part of a broader enforcement campaign targeting undocumented Afghan refugees. According to an audio message recorded by Qureshi, he was taken into custody without prior notice by police in the Attock district.

The detention occurs amid heightened tension along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border following recent clashes involving the Taliban and Pakistani security forces, which triggered an increase in round-ups and forced deportations of Afghans residing in Pakistan. Qureshi’s arrest is consistent with a broader pattern of journalists and media workers facing detention or deportation.

While Pakistani authorities have not publicly offered a justification for Qureshi’s arrest, media outlets highlight that he holds Afghan nationality and was working as a journalist, which raises serious questions about press freedom and the rights of refugee media professionals in Pakistan.

Media-freedom and refugee-rights organizations have expressed concern that the arrest of Qureshi resonates with previous cases in which Afghan journalists in Pakistan were detained or threatened with deportation, often without transparency or legal safeguards. These developments are seen as part of a deteriorating environment for migrant journalists and the free press in the region.

Qureshi’s case underscores the intersection of refugee-protection issues and journalistic freedom in Pakistan, particularly in border areas where enforcement operations are intensifying. There is a growing call from press-rights advocates for the Pakistani authorities to clarify the legal basis for such arrests, ensure the protection of media workers regardless of nationality, and respect the role of journalists as independent observers rather than subjects of detention.

Reference –

https://amu.tv/206967/

Afghan journalist arrested in Attock