11 - 17 October 2001
Issue No.555
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 11 - 17 October 2001 Issue No.555 |
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'At least, we are still alive'
On the outskirts of Pakistan's capital, more than 200,000 Afghan refugees live in miserable conditions, forgotten by the whole world. Khaled Dawoud visited Katchi Abadi camp in Islamabad
The sky over Katchi Abadi's Afghan refugee camp on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital Islamabad is as dusty as everything else here, including the frail bodies of children who manifest the tell-tale signs of malnutrition.
Enough war: Afghan refugees in Pakistan find hardship on both sides of the border
Afghan refugee Jamil Khan standing next to his aged father
Thousands of houses constructed from a mixture of mud and straw shelter more than 200,000 Afghan refugees who have been living here for decades. Over the past 22 years, the number of Afghans in Pakistan has risen progressively each time war breaks out in their country.
For the Pakistani government, residents of Katchi Abadi are illegal immigrants, meaning that they are not entitled to health care, schooling, and they do not even receive fresh water or electricity. And they are not eligible for aid from the various relief UN agencies working in Pakistan. "We wish we could help residents of Katchi Abadi. But the government says they are illegal immigrants and to provide them with help would turn them into permanent residents," said a United Nations spokesman in Islamabad.
There are no streets in Katchi Abadi, only narrow, rock- strewn alleys among the overcrowded houses. And sewage lines from the houses take up much of these alleys, leaving barely enough room for two people to walk in opposite directions.
Residents obtain their drinking water from several wells, and wash their clothes and bathe in a sewage canal. Afghans interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly said most of their compatriots who are refugees in Pakistan live in similar conditions.
According to official figures, the country is host to almost 2.5 million Afghan refugees. Since the former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan has repeatedly received waves of refugees. When the Russians were forced to withdraw 10 years later, more Afghan refugees flooded Pakistan due to the bitter and bloody fighting among the former mujahideen and comrades in arms. The intense drought that Afghanistan has been suffering for the past three years has also driven Afghans to head for their neighbour's borders.
In cities like Peshawer, in the North-western frontier Province (NWFP), and Quetta in Bulichstan Province -- both bordering Afghanistan -- it is very difficult to distinguish between Pakistanis and Afghans. People living on both sides of the border are of the Pashtun ethnic origin, and their tribal allegiances are much stronger than loyalty to any nation-state.
But many other Pakistanis view Afghan refugees as the source of major economic and social problems. Editorials and comments in the English-language Pakistani dailies openly blame refugees for the spread of a culture of violence through arms dealing, increased drug use and even prostitution.
Thus, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has vehemently rejected repeated UN appeals to open his country's border for the waves of refugees anticipated after the US-British strike. Musharraf said that if any new refugee camps are to be set up by the United Nations and its relief organisations, then these should be on the Afghan side of the border, not in Pakistan.
A country with an ailing economy, extreme poverty, 70 per cent illiteracy, over $37 billion in external debts and an average monthly per capita income of $50 dollars, Pakistan has said it can no longer absorb fresh waves of refugees.
Wahidullah, a 12-year-old child at Katchi Abadi, said he arrived at the camp with his family from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, five years ago. Toughened by dire living conditions, Wahidullah speaks like a youth many years his senior. Harshly criticising the police for beating him up and stealing his money, he said, "I have been beaten up several times by police. They tell me it is illegal to work and steal my money." Wahidullah works on a daily basis, like many of his counterparts at Kachi Abadi, in the nearby vegetable market. "I start working at 4 am and finish at noon. I make nearly 40 or 50 Rupees a day [less than a dollar] and I give them to my father," he added.
Asked about living conditions, Wahidullah burst out. "I want to leave this place and go back to Jalalabad. Here, there is no school, no hospital and the police do not allow us to work." The only schools available in Katchi Abadi are those attached to mosques, teaching youngsters the Qur'an.
Hamidullah, another child at Katchi Abadi who lives with 10 family members in one of the camp's one-bedroom dwellings, said his younger sister died two years ago "because we could not afford the money to take her to hospital." Inside Hamidullah's house, the only furnishings were straw mattresses spread on the ground. Asked about the bathroom, he pointed to a hole dug in one corner behind a small curtain.
Qudrat-Allah, a 25-year-old construction worker, said most of the residents of Katchi Abadi came to Pakistan to escape war at home. "We don't want to die," he said.
Many of the residents are also opposed to the Taliban movement ruling Afghanistan, saying that the movement comprises warlords like other mujahdeen groups who fought against each other following Russia's withdrawal from the country. "At the beginning, they [ the Taliban] were good," he added. "But later, they became corrupt and would kill anybody who opposed them."
Qudrat-Allah said that an average of two to three families a day have been arriving at the camp since the 11 September hijackings in the US. "They came to stay with us. They are afraid of the American attack."
Jamil Khan, 14, stood at the entrance of his hut with his aged father. When he knew journalists were visiting the camp, he came running, asking Al-Ahram Weekly to talk to his father. "Tell America, we don't want war," the father shouted. "We have had enough. War will only bring more war," he added. Asked about living conditions in Katchi Abadi, he replied, "Despite all we suffer here, conditions are better than Afghanistan. Here in Pakistan there is no war. At least, we are still alive."
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