Hekmatyar Calls Pakistan’s Deportation of Afghan Migrants a ‘Historic Mistake’

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Islamic Party, has described Pakistan’s deportation of Afghan migrants as a “great historic mistake” and said the move would benefit Delhi. He also said the ongoing dispute between Kabul and Islamabad is not a bilateral disagreement, but an extension of the India-Pakistan rivalry in Afghanistan.

In a thread posted on social media platform X on Wednesday, 28 Asad, Hekmatyar wrote that only “very ignorant and malicious people” see the dispute between the Taliban administration and Pakistan as a conflict between Islamabad and an Afghan group. According to him, what is currently unfolding between the two sides is in fact a war between Delhi and Islamabad that has been dragged from Kashmir to Afghanistan.

The leader of the Islamic Party said the forced expulsion of Afghan migrants and the bulldozing of their homes went against human standards. He wrote that this decision would have consequences for Islamabad that would be impossible to make up for.

Hekmatyar also said Afghan migrants have been going to Pakistan since the rule of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and during this period 11 presidents of that country have accepted their presence. According to him, except for India- and Russia-backed factions and figures linked to foreigners, Pakistani parties and the public have regarded the presence of these migrants as a humanitarian and Islamic responsibility.

He added that a number of Pakistani officials and figures had previously said that if there had been no resistance by Afghan migrants and mujahideen against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, Pakistan too would have faced a similar fate. Hekmatyar then compared critics of that resistance to those who, he said, would have welcomed the Soviet army’s entry into Pakistan.

These remarks come as relations between the Taliban administration and Pakistan have been highly tense over the past year. The two sides have clashed several times during this period, and the tensions have also affected trade, transit and movement through border crossings.

In recent months, alongside rising tensions with Pakistan, the Taliban administration’s relations with India have also expanded. Delhi has increased its engagement with the Taliban administration in areas such as trade, health and diplomatic relations, and this rapprochement has heightened Islamabad’s concerns over the expansion of ties between Kabul and Delhi.