Afghan Special Forces Relocation Review

Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Coaker

Tuesday 15th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

This review dealt with the Triples; interpreters and others were outside its scope. For people who are making or have made asylum claims, there are opportunities for them to claim asylum through those processes, and there are appeals processes within that. The interpreters and others that the noble Baroness mentioned were not within scope of this review.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome this review and pay tribute to my ex-right honourable friend James Heappey for initiating it. The FCDO and the MoD worked very closely together with the Home Office on all resettlement schemes. May I ask the Minister specifically about the role of Pakistan? While I have heard the reassurance and we have a good working relationship on the ground, one of the challenges the previous Government faced on the ACRS, which the noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, alluded to for interpreters, was that a visa was issued to those eligible for resettlement by the Pakistan Government, but there is a time limit on it. That was to ensure that we have British officials on the ground in Pakistan to verify the process, so that those getting nearer to the time deadline are not then returned to Afghanistan. I welcome the tone and the substance of this Statement.

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, for the work he did on this, and for his general welcome and question. If noble Lords will forgive me, because it is such an important question I am going to read an answer, which is unusual for me. It is important that this is accurate with respect to Pakistan and the question from the noble Baroness. I apologise for this, but it is important that we get this right.

We are in regular contact with the Government of Pakistan and we are very grateful for their continued assurances that ARAP-eligible Afghans who have completed their security checks will not be deported. If an individual in scope of the review has their decision overturned, they should be offered the same level of protection from deportation from Pakistan. We are engaged in ongoing constructive dialogue with the Government of Pakistan over the ARAP scheme.

We have explored every avenue to try to extend protection from deportation enjoyed by Afghans in Pakistan. We have confirmed eligibility and completed security checks for those in scope of the review while it is under way. While we have not been able to find a mechanism for achieving this on the UK side, we are grateful to the Pakistan authorities for their continued assurances that ARAP-eligible Afghans will not be deported. Indeed, to my knowledge, no Afghan with confirmed ARAP eligibility has been deported from Pakistan. We look forward to their ongoing support as we relocate Afghans to begin their new lives in the UK.

I apologise for reading that, but it is important to be completely accurate.