KABUL (SW) – People with disabilities claim their salaries are not paid for a while now, but officials of the Islamic Emirate say they need to wait more.
Abdullah, a resident of Paghman district of Kabul, who lost both his legs in a mine explosion in this district a few years ago, says that he has not received his pension for two years that has put him and his family in a difficult situation. He adds: “There are 12 of us in the house. We are surrounded with worries, if we eat something at night, we need it again in the morning. We need help, we don’t have the ability to work, our days and nights are difficult.”
Ruhollah, another resident of Kabul who lost his right leg in the war 30 years ago, says that even though he has done the biometrics, but he has not received his pension yet.
He adds: “There are twelve people in the family, I am the head of the family. We visited two or three times, but it did not work. We have no choice, this situation has made our life difficult, we cannot even work.”
On the other hand, some survivors of the victims also say that the non-payment of their pensions by the government has made it difficult for them to live.
Wahida, who is a mother of four children and lost her husband who was a soldier 13 years ago, says that she has not received her pension for three years. She added: “I was working myself and now I lost him too. I haven’t been paid for three years, I’ve been working all winter. I filled out the form at the beginning of spring, but it is not yet known whether we will be paid or not. Life is full of problems.”
However, Faisal Kashmus, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs, told Salam Watandar that the process of distributing the pension to people with disabilities and the survivors of the victims has started in all provinces, but this process is time consuming.
He adds: “Every day, the pensions of people with disabilities and survivors of martyrs is remitted, but we cannot pay everyone’s allowance at once, people have to wait for their turn. According to the budget given to us, we are trying to pay everyone’s living expenses.”
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs, 196 thousand people with disabilities from all over Afghanistan are registered in this ministry.
ENDS
