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Cold, poverty grip 6,000 displaced Badakhshan residents

author avatar
3 Jan 2021 - 14:40
author avatar
3 Jan 2021 - 14:40

FAIZABAD (Pajhwok): Internally displaced families in northern Badakhshan province on Sunday said they were concerned about harsh winter, economic problems and lack of facilities and urged the government to help them.

According to the provincial Department of Refugees, there are currently 6,000 internally displaced people in the province.

Many of these families were forced to flee homes after Taliban’s takeover of Warduj, Yamgan districts, parts of Juram, YaftalBala, Raghistan and Kuhistan districts.

The families have moved to neighboring districts and Faizabad, the provincial capital.

Some of these families live in rented houses and a number of others live in tents amid poor living conditions in cold winter.

The refugee department says it has begun distributing food and non-food items to the displaced families in cooperation with foreign aid agencies.

Rozatullah, a 48-year-old resident of Dara Khostak, said: “We migrated to Faizabad eight months ago after our areas became insecure due to the presence of Taliban and foreign fighters and now we are living in a very bad situation, we wonder what to do. The weather is very cold and we have nothing to warm ourselves”.

He said the situation of many displaced people was worrying and their children would die of cold if the government did not pay attention.

Farishta, a 36-year-old resident who was displaced from the 8th security district of Faizabad to the 6th district due to clashes between government forces and militants, said if the government did not come to their rescue in-time, they would die of severe cold.

Abdul Wahid Taybi, the Refugee Department head, said growing insecurity and Taliban’s presence in several districts of Badakhshan led to an increase in number of displaced families.

He said during the past two days, they provided cash assistance to 400 families with each receiving about 8,000 afghanis and in coming days 1,000 others will be assisted by the Ministry of Refugees.

“Unfortunately the number of displaced people in Badakhshan has reached more than 6,000 families.”

The official said they had distributed enough food and non-food items to the displaced families but providing them with shelter and other necessary facilities was beyond the capacity of the local government.

About bad situation of the displaced families due to cold weather, Tayib said aid agencies were fully prepared to respond to a possible event from cold.

bk/ma

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