KABUL (SW) – A number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran say authorities in these host countries have made life difficult for them.
Roya, who went to Pakistan after the political changes in the country, said that she and her family have gone through all the legal procedures for travel, but the bad economic situation and the fear of being arrested have made life difficult for them. She added that they have legal documents and passports, but their visas have expired. Roya said that she witnesses the detention of migrants by the Pakistani police on a daily basis, but no one is looking for a solution to their situation.
She said: “What law allows my 14-year-old child to be imprisoned, handcuffed, and taken to court for one and a half nights? We are going through difficult times.”
Meanwhile, Shamla Maghsoodi, another Afghan immigrant in Pakistan, said that she spends day and night in fear of being arrested. According to her, while they do not have a good financial situation, visas are also sold to them, and it is difficult and sometimes impossible to renew them normally. Mrs. Maqsoodi aadded hat those who do not have a visa or even those who have a visa are aalso getting arrested. “My husband and children work very hard. Yesterday, we saw that they took away women who had two to three-year-old children. Our situation is bad and food prices are high.”
On the other hand, Afghan immigrants in Iran also live a difficult life. According to the notices issued by the Iranian government, this country has ordered employers in a number of cities not to employ Afghan citizens in sales departments or other jobs that are relatively easy, otherwise, they will close their shops.
Afghan immigrants in Iran also ccomplained about the non-respect of their rights in this country and, according to them, the mistreatment that is done to them, they say that they only have the opportunity to do hard work and they cannot work in other sectors such as sales or in restaurants.
Hamed Nouri, one of the Afghan immigrants in Iran, said that despite the long and hard work, they do not have the right to receive a proper salary. He aadded “Job opportunities are not available; [The immigrants work in] farming, cattle breeding, guarding and shepherding, and they do not allow most of the work that is inside the cities. We only get 30% of our wages.”
The immigrants’ rights activists say that the only solution to the problems of immigrants is to have good relations between the Islamic Emirate and the host country of Afghan immigrants. Asefe Stanekzai, an activist for the rights of immigrants, says that the Islamic Emirate should solve the problem of Afghan immigrants diplomatically through its embassies in neighboring countries.
He aadded “They should avoid anything that causes the relationship to become strained, and anything that causes the relationship to improve should be done. The Islamic Emirate should also establish proper communication through the Afghan embassy in these countries in order to cooperate with immigrants.”
We wanted to have the opinion of the Ministry of Immigrants and Returnees Affairs or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the handling of the situation of Afghan immigrants, but none of them were willing to answer. Bilal Karimi, one of the deputy spokespersons of the Islamic Emirate, has recently said that in order to address the situation of Afghan immigrants in neighboring countries, they have always discussed it with the authorities of these countries.
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