Boy who lost relatives in Iran wants IEA to create jobs

MAHMOODRAQI(Pajhwok): Zamir, a boy who lost four members of his family on their way to Iran, has asked the Islamic Emirate to create jobs and thereby alleviate the suffering of Afghans.

After the political change in August 2021, the international community has considerably slashed aid to Afghanistan and has frozen more than $9 billion foreign reserves of the central bank.

The US move has resulted in increased poverty, unemployment and economic problems in Afghanistan.

However, most of families know that moving illegally to another country is full of challenges and risks. Worse still, they do so in the hope of resolving their economic problems.

This five-member family also travelled to Iran through a smuggling route last year due to economic problems and unemployment. But unfortunately, a traffic accident took the lives of four of them. Only 17-year-old Zamir was able to return alive to the country in immense grief and abject poverty.

Zamir originally hails from central Kapisa province. Following his return from Iran, he has been living with his uncle in the Khairkhana neighbourhood of Kabul.

He says his slain father, who was the sole breadwinner for the family, had worked as a cook with an NGO. He lost his job after the IEA takeover.

He continued: “We borrowed a lot of money after my father lost his job. As a result of heavy debt, we decided to go to Iran because unemployment was a problem.”

They somehow arranged the money to travel to Iran by mortgaging their house. They negotiated with a smuggler and moved to the neighbouring country.

Zamir says: “We wanted to go to Iran to eke out a living, but didn’t know this accident would happen and claim the lives of four members of our family.”

Having witnessed the tragedy and the death of relatives, Zamir has become mentally unstable.

“We traveled for six days on the trot and felt tired. I was sleeping when the car crashed. I woke up in hospital and saw the bodies of my parents, sister and brother,” he recalled.

This is not the end of the sad story of Zamir’s journey to Iran. The boy had to bring the bodies of his loved ones back to the country.

According to Zamir, when his uncle came to know about the incident, he said that the bodies should be transferred to Kabul.

He added: “They snatched eight million tomans from us for the morgue. I paid 28 million tomans to the traffickers who transported us to the border

“We also paid seven million tomans the border officials and encountered a lot of problems,” the youngster complained.

Asking the Islamic Emirate to create job opportunities for the people, Zamir broke into tears while showing the pictures of his relatives.

He urged the people to avoid going abroad for work and be content even with 100 afghanis a day in Afghanistan. Travelling to other countries via smuggling routes was risky and dangerous, he concluded.

Zamir is not alone to face a terrible fate while saving himself from unemployment and to live a better life, but there are thousands of Afghan families who faced various problems and dangers after leaving the country.

A teacher at a private higher education institution in Kabul, who took refuge with his family in a European country after the fall of the political system, has now returned to the country after staying there for about five months.

The teacher, who declined to be named, told Pajhwok: “When you leave your own country and anywhere you go is foreign to you, you are neither familiar with its culture, nor with its language and people, it is painful for a person.”

“If I tell you about the problems we faced on the way, books would be written. I don’t want my children to stay away from religion, culture and traditions of their country. I didn’t want…I returned to my country for various reasons, but my wish is that Islamic Emirate does not hinder the education of our girls.”

He added every type of immigration had its own problems, but illegal immigration was worse.

The teacher, who currently owns a business, said: “If the Islamic Emirate provides a favorable working environment for the people, and does not prevent girls from studying, I think that the majority of those who are abroad will return to the country.”

He asked the Islamic Emirate once again: “Do everything, create jobs, provide opportunities for the education of girls and boys alike, education is the right of every human being.”

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, told Pajhwok that providing employment to the people was one of the top priorities of the caretaker government and efforts were being made in this regard.

Referring to Qush Tepa project in Balkh province, he said that 5,000 Afghans were currently working in the mega project and efforts were underway to create more employment opportunities.

He added: “Of course, this is not enough. We are trying to increase the employment so that the people can earn a living and there is no need for them to go abroad through smuggling routes.”

Government officials have repeatedly said they would not prevent girls and women from education and working after providing safe and suitable environment. However, it is still not clear when this promise will be fulfilled.

sa/mud/ma

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