Afghan illegal migrants jailed, children not under arrest: Sindh Minister

• Memon said 129 Afghan women are imprisoned for living illegally
• He said the children are not prisoners
• He said the pictures of children in jail cells are fake

KARACHI: Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said denied reports that Afghan children have been arrested and kept in jail cells in Karachi.

Addressing a press conference, Memon said that 129 Afghan women are imprisoned for illegally living in Pakistan but children are not under arrest.

The minister said that 178 children are being kept with their mothers as the law states that children under seven are to be kept with their mothers.

“Let me tell you these children are not arrested. Our law says that if a woman [prisoner] has a child aged less than 7 years, then they should be allowed to stay with their mother,” the provincial minister said. “Where will the child go if their father and mother are in jail? They are kept in prison, but not as a prisoner.”

Stressing that the minors are not arrested, the information minister said these children are kept with their parents, but they are not prisoners. He added that women belonging to other countries, living illegally in Pakistan, are also in jails.

In response to a question, Memon said the pictures of children in jail being circulated on social media are fake. he said that none of the pictures on social media is of Sindh jail, adding that they have checked all the prisons. There is no jail for children in Landhi, he added.

The provincial minister further said that about 75 prisoners who are under trial are women. He added that the Sindh government will deport them after they complete their two-month sentence.

Earlier it was reported that police conducted and detained at least 1,200 Afghan nationals, including women and children, who had entered Karachi without valid travel documents.

The arrests brought criticism after pictures of Afghan children locked up circulated online. Police and government officials said the detainees would be deported to Afghanistan after serving their sentences.

The authorities conducted several raids since October to detain Afghan citizens staying in Karachi and elsewhere without valid documents.

The pictures of minor Afghan children allegedly from the central jail in Karachi went viral on social media, drawing condemnation and appeals for their release.

It was reported that At least 139 Afghan women and 165 children are among those being held at a high-security jail in Karachi.

The Sindh government spokesperson Murtzaz Wahab said police have recently arrested those Afghans living in the province without valid documents and will be deported. He did not say how many Afghans were arrested for illegally residing in Sindh.

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