19. Legally undocumented Afghans are liable to arrest, detention and deportation under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and many of them have been detained for months and years.44 Proof of a relationship with a documented (either PoR or ACC) Afghan helps the person’s case.45 In 2021, the Government announced its intention to register ‘all foreigners’ issuing a so-called ‘alien card’ that would allow them to open bank accounts, start businesses, obtain SIM cards and travel. The cards are valid for five years and can be extended. However, Afghan nationals were left out of this scheme.46 Urdu speaking Biharis 20. After the India-Pakistan partition in 1947, refugees from the Indian province of Bihar heading to East Pakistan were labelled as ‘Biharis’.47 After the 1971 independence of East Pakistan as Bangladesh, the term ‘Bihari’ was used by the Bengalis for all Urdu speaking communities including Punjabis, Pathans, Sindhi and Baloch.48 In 1974, around 170,000 Bihari refugees were repatriated from Bangladesh to Pakistan and were allocated land, which has become a slum where they are targeted by other ethnic groups.49 With regard to their citizenship status, the data available is unclear as many retain their Pakistani passports from before. In 2017, a special parliamentary committee discussed documentation issues faced by Biharis to provide a pathway to citizenship for them. However, they still have not received adequate documentation and continue to struggle to be accepted as Pakistani citizens.50 Rohingyas 21. On June 20, 2022, the Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar stated that there are as many as 400,000 Rohingyas taking refuge in Pakistan.51 The total number of Rohingyas residing in Pakistan has been a point of contention as other sources report the number to be as high as 500,00052 with 300,000 residing in Karachi alone.53 22. Interestingly, none of them are reported as stateless persons by the Government of Pakistan to UNHCR. Karachi is one of the largest population centres of Rohingyas.54 Rohingyas live among Bengalis in Karachi and are at times intentionally or unintentionally mistakenly identified as Bengalis to allow them an easier path to 44 Ibid. Ibid. 46 Ibid. 47 Sultan M. Hali, ‘Biharis: Their Crime Was Their Belief in Pakistan - Sultan M Hali,’ Global Village Space, (Online, 14 December 2018), <https://www.globalvillagespace.com/biharis-their-crime-was-their-belief-in-pakistansultan-m-hali/> accessed July 13, 2022. 48 Ibid. 49 Ibid. 50 Zia Ur Rehman, ‘Pakistan Moves towards Legalising Bengalis and Biharis, Not Rohingyas’, Geo News, (Online, 18 October 2017) https://www.geo.tv/latest/162968-pakistan-to-grant-citizenship-to-bengalis-and-biharis-notrohingyas, accessed July 13, 2022. 51 Shaukat Paracha, ‘400,000 Rohingya Refugees Living in Pakistan, Reveals FO,’ Aaj.tv, (Online, 20 June 2022), <https://www.aaj.tv/news/30289869> accessed July 13, 2022. 52 Usman Ahmad, ‘Pakistan’s Rohingya Hypocrisy,’ The Diplomat, (Online, 20 September 2017) <https://thediplomat.com/2017/09/pakistans-rohingya-hypocrisy/>, accessed July 5, 2022. 53 Saad Sayeed and Syed Raza Hassan, ‘Rohingya Refugees in Pakistan Fear for Relatives in Myanmar’, Reuters, (Online, 10 September 2017), <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-royingya-pakistanidUSKCN1BL0B4> accessed July 13, 2022. 54 Zia Ur Rehman, “Identity Issue Haunts Karachi’s Rohingya Population,” DAWN, (Online, 23 February 2015), <http://www.dawn.com/news/1165299> accessed July 13, 2022. 45 7