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Friday November 29, 2024

‘6,000 new Afghan refugees in Pakistan’

By Our Correspondent
September 13, 2021

LAHORE: Around 6,000 refugees had crossed into Pakistan by first week of September. This was disclosed by the Joint Action Committee for People’s Rights whose members spent five days in Quetta to understand and assess the situation of Afghan refugees coming there.

The Afghans are coming in from the Chaman border which is guarded by a proper check-post. There is also an incoming traffic of Afghans from the border near Qila

Saifullah and Kadani Border (Toba Achakzai) along with Noshki and Dalbandin (Chaghi), which are open borders.

The Afghans, the JAC team members met were either those who were staying with their relatives in Quetta or had to take refuge in marriage halls. On average, around 300-400 people are coming to Pakistan daily via the Chaman border and they have to pay money at five different check-posts on their way to Quetta, including Purana Chaman, Sheela Bhag, Saranan, Yaro and Kuchlak.

Hazaras are being charged around Rs15,000 to Rs18,000 per person whereas Pashtuns, Tajiks or Uzbeks have to pay Rs3,000 to Rs4,000 to these “enablers”. Hazaras are made to pay more because they can easily be recognised owing to their distinct Mongoloid features. Bus/taxi drivers bring Afghan Hazaras straight to Hazara Town or Marriabad whereas most of the Afghan Pushtuns are arriving at Qilla Abdullah, Pishin or any other Pushtun-dominated area. They also have few relatives in most of these areas. There are also a number of people coming into Quetta and living with their friends or relatives.

The primary reason why these people are leaving their hometowns and arriving in Pakistan is the fear that their lives are in danger. A large number of these people have some relatives settled in Europe, Australia, Canada and the US and they are waiting for a chance to be able to go to them. NGOs workers, ex-army personnel and human rights defenders the JAC team are convinced that the Talibs would have killed them had they not fled the country. Some of the people revealed that they have been receiving threatening phone calls from the Talibs. Some people also narrate stories about Talibans torturing, and in some cases killing their close relatives in front of them, thus leaving them with no choice but to flee their country. Most of these Hazara refugees are taken care of by different Hazara welfare organisations, a few NGOs as well as Hazara Democratic Party leadership and workers. Food and medical services are being provided, especially to children by these organisations through a team of volunteer doctors and relatives. Most of these relatives are living in Quetta for the last many years on Afghan refugee cards. These services, however, are very basic. Women and children are sleeping on the floors of a marriage hall without any blankets or pillows, also resulting in an additional issue of privacy. Men and women are all staying in a big hall. These people are not able to access a facility to receive money from abroad that their relatives want to send because they do not have any legal identity yet. These Afghans fear that they can be arrested and deported back to Afghanistan any time because they have entered Pakistan illegally. Apart from the horrifying experiences they faced while fleeing, there are stories of many families who have been arrested and sent back to Afghanistan against their will.

In one of the Imambargahs, five refugee women gave birth during the last two weeks and there are a further six more pregnant women who are expected to give birth in September. There is a need to record the actual number of pregnant women to make necessary plans to help them.

The government and its allies in Balochistan do not want to raise the issue of “new refugees” because the government in Islamabad is not willing to say that there are any refugees fleeing from Afghanistan.

The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) in Quetta is also waiting for the Pakistan government to come up with some kind of policy for these refugees before UNHCR could formally/officially offer any help.

All political parties and different kinds of ethnic groups (both Baloch and Pukhtun) are in favour of helping the in-coming Afghans. The local population of Quetta that is living with the legal and illegal refugees for the past two decades, consider the arrival of new Afghans as something normal.