KABUL (SW) – A number of Afghan citizens who illegally went to neighboring countries and the region after the collapse of the republic, state tthat concerns about livelihood was the only reason for taking the path of migration.
Qadir Ahmad, who has traveled illegally to Iran and Turkey several times, said that the difficulties of this route are still like a nightmare before his eyes.
“Iran’s smuggling route has both physical and financial risks, it is the risk of everything. Thieves took my mobile phone and money from me on the way, we were on the way for a week and slept in the mountains at night. We went through the plains and the forest and walked for two days and nights.”
In the same way, Uzir Meskinyar, an administrative employee of the previous government who went to Turkey five months ago to find a job, said that he experienced the hardest days of his life during this trip. According to him, he was imprisoned for several months in the detention center for foreign citizens in Turkey.
“We were on our way to Turkey for two weeks, the conditions were bad and the weather was cold. The Turkish police caught us and beat us up. They took everything from us; They pulled our boots off our feet, we were left with only one pair of pants and we were sent back to Iran. We walked on the snow with bare feet for two hours. I have a lot of bad memories from Turkey. Finally, after five attempts, I reached Turkey”.
At the same time, human rights activists attribute the increase in illegal travel by citizens to the unfavorable internal situation in Afghanistan.
Human rights activist Asefe Stanekzai said: “The situation of immigrants is worrying. People are willing to leave Afghanistan under any conditions, and this shows the unfavorable internal conditions in Afghanistan, which are increasing day by day. Those who migrate may face all kinds of hostage-taking, rape and even death by the smugglers.”
However, Abdulmutallab Haqqani, the spokesman of the Ministry of Refugees and Returnees Affairs, said that the negative publicity of the current situation in Afghanistan by biased countries is the main cause of illegal immigration.
“In total, we have approximately seven million Afghan refugees, most of whom live in neighboring countries. There are about three million Afghans in Pakistan and another three million in Iran, and another million Afghan refugees are in other countries”.
This comes as the Bulgarian government has announced the death of 18 migrants, most of whom were Afghan citizens, near the country’s capital, who were being transported in a truck.
ENDS
