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Fresh
U.S. Bombing Halts Afghan Repatriation
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| Courtesy of
U.S. War on Terrorism |
BY Aamir Latif, IOL
Correspondent In Pakistan
PESHAWAR,
Pakistan, Jan. 4 (IslamOnline) – Following fresh U.S.-led bombing on war-torn
Afghanistan and the killing of hundreds of civilians, Afghan refugees, who have
been planning to return home, have been forced to reconsider their decision,
IslamOnline correspondent in Pakistan reported Friday, January 4, 2002.
In a small Pakistani town
near Peshawar, Ali Jan was engaged in verbal wrangling with the owner of Hazrat
Money Exchange on exchange rate from the Afghan currency to the Pakistani Rupee.
He had already changed his mind about going back to his homeland, following the
latest upsurge of U.S. bombing of civilian areas there.
“I
had decided to go back to my country two weeks ago, and was almost ready to
leave Pakistan”, Ali Jan, who has been residing with his wife and four
children in this dust-bowed refugee camp near the Pak-Afghan border since
September 22, told IslamOnline.
He
said he had got all his Pakistani currency exchanged into Afghan currency two
weeks ago. “ I was ready to move, but on the same day, U.S. aircraft pounded
the area near my village in Jalalabad, killing dozens of civilians.”
Ali
Jan had managed to trickle into Pakistan through a dangerous mountain route
September 21, 2001. He had to spend his first night in Pakistan in the open air.
He was, however, given a tent and other necessary commodities the next day.
“Now,
I have changed my mind. That is why I am here to exchange the Afghan currency
into Pak Rupee,” he said.
He
is not a single case. Thousands of Afghans, who planned to leave Pakistan, have
changed their minds too.
Thousands
more have gathered at Torkhum and Chaman borders to enter Pakistan, following
the fresh round of fierce U.S. bombing.
"At
a time when thousands of Afghan refugees are ready to cross over to Afghanistan
through Chaman and Torkhum borders, several thousands have arrived at Chaman and
more are fleeing," said UNHCR spokesperson, Fatoumata, at a news briefing
in Islamabad on Friday, January 4, 2002.
The
UNHCR claims around 40,000 Afghan refugees have allegedly crossed over to
Afghanistan since December 22, the day when the incumbent government, led by an
American Green-Card holder, Hamid Karzai, took over power in Afghanistan.
However,
UNHCR sources admit that it would not contribute anything significant to ease
the burden on Pakistan as thousands more are crossing or are about to cross over
into Pakistan.
The
majority of the new arrivals came from southern Afghanistan, Fatoumata
maintained, while others came from Kunduz and Herat provinces.
According
to statements by newly arrived refugees, "they (the Afghan refugees) had to
flee their villages due to bombardments", she said. In an attempt to
justify it, she said "the bombardment, which claimed the lives of 150
people in the areas two weeks earlier, was due to suspicions of the presence of
Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters."
In
answer to a query, Fatoumata said that the reason behind those refugees' flight
is bombardment, insecurity, looting, and shortage of food, shelter, medicines
and water. "The majority of those arriving are from Spin Boldak, where they
complain about the lack of assistance," she added.
She
said that drought could also be a cause of their flight. She expressed her hope
the flow of refugees from the war-torn country would stop with assistance given
the people inside southern Afghanistan.
UNHCR
is working in collaboration with the NGOs to accommodate those refugees in the
camps, situated in NWFP and Baluchistan, she added.
The
World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson, Fadela Chaib, told IslamOnline
that the agency is sending international staff to Afghanistan, following
improvements in the security situation.
"More
than 90 percent of professional and other staff will move to Kabul soon,"
she said, "and international staff would be deployed in Jalalabad, Kandahar,
Mazar-e-Sharif, Kunduz, Faizabad, and Ghazni, to strengthen the operation.”
Fadela
added WHO is working in close connection with the new Afghan Health Ministry to
ensure basic health facilities in the war-ravaged country.
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