[Today's Prayer] Pakistan begins forced repatriation of Afghan refugees... "9,000 deported this month"

As Pakistan resumed forced repatriation of Afghan refugees this month, it has been determined that approximately 9,000 refugees have been deported to Afghanistan so far.

According to Reuters on the 9th (local time), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told Reuters the previous day that "at least 8,906 Afghans have been deported so far this month."

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) also told AFP that "the number of Afghans crossing the border from Pakistan reached an average of 4,000 per day over the past two days, the 6th and 7th," and expressed concern that "1.6 million people, including unregistered Afghan migrants and Afghan Citizenship Card (ACC) holders issued by the Pakistani government, could be affected by the forced repatriation movement this year."

In the past few days, many Afghans have been crossing from Pakistan to Afghanistan, and most of them are leaving without taking all their assets. Some were arrested by Pakistani authorities and forcibly transferred.

Shah Mahmood, who returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan on the 7th, told AFP, "I have no other sin than being an Afghan."

There are millions of Afghans living in Pakistan, including those who fled after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and those who came after the Taliban took over the Afghan government in 2021.

(omitted)

Source: Yonhap News

Lord, show your wondrous love, who saves with your right hand those who take refuge in you from those who rise up against you. (Psalm 17:7)

As Pakistan resumes the forced repatriation of Afghan refugees, we hear that about 9,000 refugees have been deported to Afghanistan so far.

Lord, who is our refuge, we believe that you understand the difficulties of the Afghan people who are not welcomed wherever they go as refugees and who are expelled from the land of Pakistan where they were staying.

The Lord has never forgotten their names and has not let go of their plans for them.

Please let the Afghan people who live without a place to settle no longer seek refuge in this world but take refuge in the Lord, our true hope, and let them know your wondrous love.

Also, please strengthen the Afghan church that keeps its faith and looks to the Lord even in difficult situations, and let them remember that their life on this earth is that of a sojourner and may they run toward the eternal heaven with hope.

Please let the global church also remember and serve the pain of the Afghan people in the midst of a long war, and may they spread the love of Jesus Christ who gives us true satisfaction and hope!

So may the Afghan people rise up as a people who are filled with the joy of salvation and prepare the way for the Lord’s return!