Afghan journalist Sayed Qasim Hashemi and filmmaker Hamed Ehsas have reportedly been missing in Islamabad since July 4 after leaving home to buy camera equipment….reports Asian Lite News Desk
Afghan journalist Sayed Qasim Hashemi and filmmaker Hamed Ehsas have been missing in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad for more than a month, according to local media reports.
The families of the two men said Hashemi and Ehsas left their homes together on July 4 to purchase camera lens equipment but did not return.
Their relatives subsequently approached police and judicial authorities in Pakistan seeking information about their whereabouts, but have reportedly received no clear explanation about what happened to them, Afghanistan-based Khaama Press reported.
According to their families, both men were living in Pakistan without legal residency after entering the country with their families following the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
The vehicle they were travelling in was later located in Islamabad through its GPS system, but neither Hashemi nor Ehsas was found in or around the vehicle, according to their families.
The relatives have expressed concern over their safety and called on Pakistani authorities to provide information about their whereabouts.
Their disappearance comes amid an intensified Pakistani crackdown on undocumented foreign nationals, particularly Afghans living in the country.
Earlier in July, police detained 40 undocumented Afghan nationals during an operation against illegal foreign residents in Charsadda district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Charsadda Deputy Commissioner Azmatullah Wazir said those detained were transferred from the city police station to a holding centre in Peshawar.
He said legal and administrative procedures would be completed before the individuals were deported through the Torkham border crossing.
Wazir said the district administration, together with police and other law enforcement agencies, would continue operations against undocumented foreign nationals in the district. He said the campaign was being conducted under immigration laws and without discrimination, according to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper.
Pakistan’s Interior Ministry had earlier ordered the immediate arrest, from July 10, of Afghan nationals found living in the country without valid visas.
The country’s deportation drive against Afghans began in 2023 and was renewed in April last year after the government withdrew hundreds of thousands of residence permits and warned undocumented Afghans that they could face arrest if they failed to leave.
The crackdown has drawn criticism from international rights groups.
On June 20, Amnesty International called on the international community to oppose what it described as the unlawful expulsion of Afghan refugees and urged countries to protect people with international protection needs under international human rights law.
“Millions of Afghan refugees are being expelled across the globe, and that number keeps climbing day by day,” Amnesty said in a post on X.
It said Afghan refugees faced arbitrary arrests and family separations in host countries, while those returning to Afghanistan faced human rights concerns amid a severe humanitarian crisis.
“The unlawful expulsions of Afghan people must stop, and people with international protection needs must be safeguarded as per international human rights law,” the rights group said.
The families of Hashemi and Ehsas are continuing to seek information about the two men and have appealed to Pakistani authorities to clarify their status and whereabouts.
