Pregnant Afghan Refugees Evicted, Forced to Camp in Islamabad Park

In August 2025, Pakistan has begun a crackdown on documented Afghan refugees, pressuring landlords to evict them from their homes. This has forced hundreds of families, including pregnant women and newborns, to seek shelter in a park in Islamabad, where they are living in makeshift shelters made of plastic sheets.

One of the refugees, Samia, a 26-year-old from Afghanistan's Hazara minority, gave birth just three weeks ago. She and her newborn son, Daniyal, are now living on the wet ground of the park, with no access to food or medical care. Another pregnant refugee, Sahera Babur, fears for the wellbeing of her unborn child as she faces the prospect of giving birth in these dire conditions.

The United Nations has warned that Afghans unable to regularize their stay in Pakistan face arrest and deportation, despite the fact that over 1.3 million hold refugee registration documents and 750,000 have Afghan identity cards issued in Pakistan. The UN refugee agency is pressing the Pakistani government to create a registration mechanism and has reiterated its call not to return people to a country where their lives may be in danger.

Many of the refugees say they cannot return to Afghanistan due to the risks they face, such as former government adviser Ahmad Zia Faiz, who fears reprisals for his past service. As Pakistan's crackdown continues and neighboring Iran plans to deport more than a million Afghans, the situation is rapidly becoming a major refugee crisis.