MAIMANA (SW) – Many Afghans have faced negative consequences of migration and some have even paid grim sacrifices with limbs and lives of their own or their closed one.
Recently, Hekmatullah, a 14-year-old ninth-grade student from Faryab province, fell victim to irregular migration. The Iranian police burned him to death in a widely covered case during a car chase.
Hekmatullah was deceived by smugglers as he had embarked on irregular migration in search of safer life as per his dreams, but before he could achieve his dream, he was chased and fired upon by the Iranian border guards.
According to his relatives, Hekmatullah was only 14 years old, and despite being a student, he fell prey to smugglers and migrated irregularly. Hekmatullah’s father, Amir Mohammad, said that his son had lost his mother when he was just five-year old. The dejected father said he had brought up his son with many hardships, but the Iranian border guards killed him ruthlessly.
Amir Mohammad told Salam Watandar that his son went to Iran to work hard, pay off his debts, but he took with him all his desires and plans to the grave.
Recalling the memories, Amir Mohammad says his son was always helpful with housework and was taking care of his younger sister and brother. He said that when Hekmatullah left home for journey towards Iran, he helped with cleaning the whole house and happily separated from his family.
Hekmatullah’s father is now seeking justice, saying Iranian officials are not handing over his son’s body to relatives. He said the government should cooperate with him in getting back his son’s body.
One of Hekmatullah’s relatives, Atiqullah, said six of his relatives had travelled to Iran irregularly when a truck carrying them on Iranian soil was set on fire by the border forces. According to him, one of his relatives was killed and two others were injured in the incident.
Atiqullah said he has no information about his injured relatives because they are in custody with the Iranians.
Meanwhile, officials at the Faryab refugees department have expressed concerns about the increase in irregular migration from the province, saying that dozens of people leave the province every day for other countries.
Mohammad Naseem Khan, head of refugee and returnee affairs in Faryab, told Salam Watandar that the situation of asylum seekers was now worrying. According to him, the asylum seekers were not only beaten and harassed by the Pakistani and Iranian police recently, but in one case, one of them burned to death.
Officials said that illegal immigration is on the rise and many of those who travel abroad are minors.
In this regard, officials at the Afghanistan Migration Information Center said that in order to reduce the level of irregular migration, public has been made aware of the dire consequences of irregular migration through awareness programs in universities, schools and mosques in Kabul and other provinces.
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