PESHAWAR: Nearly 400 Afghan nationals — including singers, musicians, and their families — have petitioned the Peshawar High Court (PHC), seeking protection from forced repatriation to Afghanistan on the grounds that they face grave persecution under Taliban rule. The petitioners argue that returning them to their homeland would violate the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits sending individuals back to places where they are at risk of harm.
Filed through Advocate Jabir Khan, the joint petition requests the court to direct the federal government to allow them to remain in Pakistan as refugees. They have also urged that their case be decided in accordance with a previous PHC judgement issued on December 13, 2024, involving other Afghan artists and transgender individuals. In that ruling, the court had directed the federal government to individually assess asylum claims and determine whether the petitioners met the criteria to prevent refoulement.
Around 400 Afghan nationals including artists and their families moved PHC, seeking directives for government to stop their forced repatriation to Afghanistan. https://t.co/HiMRnJZVod
— Dawn.com (@dawn_com) November 20, 2025
The respondents in the petition include the federal interior ministry, cabinet division secretary, directors general of Nadra, Immigration and Passport, FIA, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief and home secretaries. Among the petitioners is well-known Afghan artist Zakiya Dunya Ghazal, who, along with several others, asserts that the Taliban have explicitly banned music and artistic expression, making life-threatening persecution inevitable should they return.
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The petition states that many Afghan artists fled to Pakistan after the Taliban takeover, settling primarily in Peshawar. They registered with UNHCR, receiving token numbers acknowledging their status as asylum seekers. The petitioners noted that Pakistan, Afghanistan, and UNHCR signed an agreement in 2003, affirming that Afghan refugees would not be repatriated until durable peace returned to Afghanistan.
Citing Pakistan’s obligations under international law, the petitioners referenced the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, stressing that Pakistan must safeguard the fundamental rights of refugees. They further noted that the Supreme Court of Pakistan has previously held that constitutional fundamental rights apply to all persons within the country, including foreign nationals.
The petition argues that the government’s 2023 repatriation policy contradicts international commitments and UNHCR protocols, as Afghan artists face “life-threatening risks” due to Taliban restrictions. The PHC has increasingly received similar petitions from Afghan nationals fearing imminent deportation.
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