[Today’s Prayer] UN urges Pakistan to stop deporting Afghans... “Life is at risk from the cold”

As Pakistani authorities are expelling illegal Afghans to Afghanistan, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has called for a halt to the deportation, saying that extreme winter cold could lead to death.

According to Reuters on the 23rd (local time), UNHCR regional spokesman Babar Baloch said in an interview with Reuters TV the previous day, "The winter cold in Afghanistan is really extreme and can kill people." “We urge the Pakistani government to stop the deportations,” he said.

Spokesperson Baloch also said that return to Afghanistan should be voluntary and that Pakistani authorities should take action to determine whether there are vulnerable individuals who need protection from international organizations.

Last month, Pakistani authorities asked illegal immigrants, most of whom are Afghans, to voluntarily leave the country, and since the 1st of this month, they have been searching every house and deporting illegal immigrants who remain.

The Afghan Taliban government recently announced that about 340,000 people returned from Pakistan.

About 4.4 million Afghans have lived in Pakistan, including those who fled after the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and those who came after the Taliban retook the Afghan regime in August 2021.

Of these, approximately 1.7 million are illegal immigrants who do not have proper documents.

(Omitted)

Source: Yonhap News

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

God, as the Pakistani government continues to deport illegally residing Afghans, there are concerns that the lives of Afghan refugees may be threatened due to the cold winter weather.

Lord, have mercy on the Afghan refugees who, whether they go here or there, have no place to lay their heads, are not welcomed by anyone and surrounded by constant threats to their lives.

Reveal the face of Jesus, who is the only refuge for those who seem to have nowhere to escape, and let those who were not protected by any country receive the great grace of being your people.

As the Lord has chosen Afghanistan and made them His own people, would Afghanistan recover their identity, rise up, and proclaim among all nations the beautiful grace of how the Lord has brought them out of darkness and into the marvelous light.

Thus, through Afghanistan, let the souls of all nations who are still suffering in darkness come to know the living God, and may Afghanistan rise up as a nation of kings and priests who lead the praise of all nations!