Islamabad, Nov 20 : Around 400 Afghan nationals, including several artists and their families, have approached the Peshawar High Court, requesting the judge to issue orders for government to halt their forced deportation to Afghanistan in accordance with the principle of non-refoulment as they would be subjected to persecution in their country, the local media reported on Thursday.

The Afghan nationals filed a joint petition in the court, seeking directives for government to allow their stay in Pakistan as refugees. The petitioners include Zakiya Dunya Ghazal and several other Afghan artists and their families, Pakistan's leading daily Dawn reported.

The petitioners have referred to an earlier judgement of the high court announced on December 13, 2024 in cases of some other artists and transgender persons, requesting the court to announce verdict in line with that judgement.

Pakistan's Federal Interior Ministry, Federal Secretary of cabinet division, Directors General of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), immigration and passport and FIA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary and its Home Secretary have been named as respondents in the petition.

The petitioners contended that it was dangerous for artists and singers to live in Afghanistan after Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan as they had openly expressed opposition to activities like music concerts etc. They claimed that they settled with their families in Peshawar after fleeing from Afghanistan.

They stressed that Pakistan's forced repatriation policy was against the existing United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) agreements and Pakistan's own international commitments.

On Tuesday, Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi stopped short of calling out Pakistan as he slammed "some countries" for treating Afghan refugees "inhumanely" due to political considerations.

In his address at the Fifth Coordination Meeting between Afghanistan and the United Nations (UN) agencies in Afghanistan in Kabul, Muttaqi severely criticised the neighbouring nation for violating international norms and forcibly evicting Afghan refugees from their homes.

Calling for an urgent intervention from the international community, Muttaqi indirectly slammed Pakistan for forcibly deporting Afghan refugees over the past few months as relations between the two countries continue to worsen.

"Inhumane treatment of Afghan refugees in some countries continues due to political considerations. In this harsh winter, they are being forcibly evicted from their homes and then denied entry at crossing points. Is this not a blatant violation of international refugee principles? Is this not a grave injustice against women, children and elderly?" the Taliban minister questioned.

According to the UN, Iran and Pakistan are the two largest host countries of Afghan refugees. While Iran till recently hosted at least 3.5 million Afghan refugees, Pakistan had 1.6 million refugees from the neighbouring country.

Till September 2025, an estimated 126,800 Afghan refugees and people in a refugee-like situation had returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan in the past one year.

/IANS