“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,” the activist, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, told AFP an interview on Friday.
Despite extending the stay permits for Afghan refugees for another year, the federal government announced this week that it would expel illegal migrants.
More than 600,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan since the caretaker government last year ordered undocumented migrants to leave or face arrest.
Human rights monitors have warned that some deported to Afghanistan face persecution by the Taliban, who came to power in 2021 and have imposed a strict form of Islam, barring girls from higher education and excluding women and girls from many areas of public life.
“A lot of these girls in Pakistan were studying, they were in school, these women were working,” said Malala, 27, who grew up in Swat Valley.
She had to move to the UK after being shot at the age of 15 for resisting the banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s then-ban on girls’ education in her hometown.
“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.
