Human cost: ‘Afghan refugees should not be made targets of escalating tension’

Representatives say they are constantly being harassed by police

PESHAWAR: Representatives of Afghan refugees in Pakistan have asked the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan to resolve their differences. They have demanded that the refugees living in Pakistan should not be made targets of escalating tension between both countries.

Speaking at a news conference outside Peshawar Press Club, Central Shura for Afghan Refugees President Baryalay Miankhail said, “Even if there is something wrong, [the Afghan government] must ignore it for the only reason that 1.5 million refugees are being hosted by Pakistan.”

Honourable exit

He said refugees have been living in Pakistan for decades now and have been amazed by the hospitality extended to them by their Pakistani brethren.

“This hospitality has finished after a few unfortunate events,” he added. Miankhail said the refugees are no longer able to move freely in the country. “Even if they do manage to cross the border, they have to pay a visit to the police from Torkham border to Akora Khattak in Nowshera.”

He said the government had made it clear that the refugees shall be allowed to stay in the country for a specified duration, but officials keep scolding and insulting them.



“We want an honourable exit,” he said. “The international community, including Pakistan and Afghanistan, must take a few steps, including financial support from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, to make this journey feasible for us.”

Cruelty of time

Miankhail said a large number of Afghan refugees were mortgaged at different places where the majority was settled in brick kilns. Now they need to pay back to their landlords, he said.

He asked the UNHCR to help them in making these arrangements.

“Those who owe us money no longer receive our calls but those who had lent us money want to be paid on an immediate basis,” he said.

He added students from the refugee communities are attending various colleges and universities on the basis of their registration cards. The representative added that the Afghan government has said the refugees will be settled in their ancestral areas. He said the refugees must be allowed to settle in other provinces as well. Haji Dost Muhammad Hussain Khail, a member of the Shura, said Pakistan facilitated refugees by arranging camps in schools, hospitals and provided all other necessities as well.

In the meanwhile, traders involved in businesses between the two countries have also raised their concerns and requested that the higher officials from the interior ministry be deputed at check posts.

They said officials currently appointed at check posts are corrupt and demand bribes.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2016.