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26-04-2022
By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report
KABUL/ TEHRAN/ ISLAMABAD: An Afghan’s Taliban delegation led by the acting minister of refugees and repatriations is set to visit Tehran to hold talks over refugee-related challenges and the border tension that flared up recently in a border area.
Following the recent tensions between Islamic Emirate forces and Iranian border guards and videos showing the torture Afghan refugees in Iran, a delegation will visit Tehran in the coming days.
“We are trying to visit Iran to talk about all the problems that Afghans are struggling with their; we hope we can talk and solve the problems,” said Khalilurahman Haqqani, acting minister of refugee and repatriations.
Meanwhile, Afghan students and refugees residing in Iran said that they have always faced visa issues as well as residence and employment problems across Iran.
“One of the serious challenges is receiving visas, when the students receive visas and come for an education. The second problem is the permission for residence, it takes a long time,” said Khan Mohammad Seerat, an Afghan student in Iran.
In the meantime, a Turkish newspaper, Daily Sabah, reported that at least 227 Afghan nationals who entered Turkey illegally were sent back home.
The Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations announced earlier that more than 5.000 Afghans return to Afghanistan daily from Iran.
Meanwhile, Afghan refugees held a demonstration in front of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Islamabad over delays in processing their immigration papers. They chanted “kill us,” and wore shirts with the same slogan.
They called on the UNHCR to expedite their registration, the distribution of immigration cards, and their admission to asylum-seeking countries.
“The Afghan protest with the slogan ‘kill us’ has reached the fifth day. On the third day, a number of UN representatives came and saw our problems up close,” said a protestor.
“We did not get what we wanted, we protested, we do not want anything anymore, our slogan is to kill us,” said the protesting asylum seeker.
The asylum seekers claim that they have repeatedly contacted the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Islamabad but have not received clear answers.
“They have been waiting for six to eight months with their families and children, with the current high price of living in Islamabad. It is very difficult to get a house,” said a protestor.
“For the past six months, we have been given a token, which is a piece of paper. it has no legal privileges and we have not received any human and humanitarian privileges,” the protesting asylum seeker said.
Afghan asylum seekers in Indonesia also protested against the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for not handling their immigration cases.
