Baghlan rug weavers ask govt to encourage local industry

PUL-I -KHUMRI (Pajhwok): Carpet weavers in northern Baghlan province have asked the government to encourage traders to invest in domestic carpets production instead of importing foreign products.

Rugs are one of the famous domestic and ancient handicrafts mostly produced in northern parts of the country and their weavers happen to be mostly women and children.

Suraya, a carpet weaver in Baghlan, told Pajhwok Afghan News that she has been weaving carpets since last four years.

Suraya said: “It is laborious, I hate it but what can I do, my father is unemployed, the schools are closed and I have no other option than to weave rugs against a minimal wage”.

She asked the government to encourage rugs importing companies to work with local rug weavers and distribute raw materials and equipment to them.

She believed if the government encouraged local companies, they could easily replace foreign products in domestic markets.

Qadira Alizada, 17, said both her parents were ill and she started weaving carpets when she was nine years old.

Alizada said: “I cannot earn two or three thousands afghanis in one month, the problems of my family are many and I have to work in rug weaving center”.

Ahmad Hussain Karbalayee, a resident of Khwaja Alwan area, told Pajhwok that his entire family was rugs weavers.

He urged both the government and businessmen to support the ancient handicraft of Afghanistan to develop it significantly.

He said traders should give more value to domestic carpets for their further development instead of foreign products.

Some other carpet weavers in Baghlan expressed similar views and urged the government to seriously cooperate with domestic carpet weavers.

Ahmad Dad Ghulami, head of Baghlan carpet weavers union, said according to their survey, 500 families are involved in carpet weaving industry and 1,500 of carpet weavers are children.

He said they formed a union of carpet weavers to attract some assistance, but neither the government nor humanitarian organizations provided them with assistance.

He was concerned if carpet weavers were not supported, they would possibly migrate to other countries and produce such carpets for other counties.

Maulav Ezat Mir Haqqani, tourism head at Baghlan Information and Culture Department, said the government was obliged to support industrialists in order to support local products.

He recalled in the past products of Afghanistan were sent to neighboring countries who exported them to other countries in the name of their own products , but now such products were processed in Kabul and exported to other countries under its own trademark.

He said the issue of supporting carpet weavers had been discussed with a number of organizations and businessmen.

Baghlan carpet sellers had previously complained to Pajhwok about the bearish carpet market compared to previous years.

aw/ma