Pakistanis seeking asylum abroad on the rise

The number of Pakistanis seeking asylum in western countries is on the rise. 

According to data recently released by Germany, the UK and the US, over 10,000 Pakistanis sought refuge in these three countries over the past year.

Data from the German interior ministry showed that around 9,185 Pakistanis lodged applications for asylum during January-July this year. Of these, 156 applicants had applied previously for asylum in Germany as well. This is a threefold hike from 2,546 asylum applications that Germany received from Pakistanis during the same period in 2015.

Around 0.5 million asylum seekers arrived in Germany during June 2015-June 2016 from different parts of the world. Recently however Germany has been deporting an increasing number of people; in the past two months Germany turned away 13,000 people, which included 529 Pakistanis.

2,992 Pakistanis applied for asylum in the UK over the past year, of whom only 16% were approved. So far this year, 376 Pakistanis applied for asylum in the US compared to 205 during the same period last year.

Majority of the asylum seekers from Pakistan are minorities. 

In the past year migration of an increasing number of Hindus from interior Sindh to India has also been observed. People belonging to the Hindu community cite kidnappings, robberies, death threats and forced marriages of Hindu women with Muslim men as the reasons for leaving Pakistan.