IDPs in Balkh say deprived of basic life facilities

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (Pajhwok): Internally displaced families in northern Balkh province say they have no access to basic facilities of life and are facing many problems, asking the government to come to their rescue.

Taj Mohammad, who migrated from Faryab to Balkh province due to the past wars, told Pajhwok: “We migrated here four years ago due to fierce clashes, now we are heading a life full of difficulties, our houses in Faryab were destroyed, we cannot move there and here we have no access to basic facilities of life.”

He said if aid giving organizations and the government assisted them, all of them were ready to return to their own areas.

Abdul Manaf, another displaced person from Kushanda district to Mazar-i-sharif who has been living in Abu Dujana camp, said they were deprived of many basic facilities of life.

He said: “There is no road to our camp, the clinic is too far from this area, our children are deprived of education and the displaced people have nothing to eat.”

Mustafa, 12-year-old boy, also said there was no school near their area and he could not go to the faraway school.

He asked the government to construct a school for them in their area.

Refugee and Repatriation Department director acknowledged the problems of IDPs and assured solution to them.

Asadullah Wafa told Pajhwok they had started a survey of internally displaced families with support of partner institutions and they were trying to address their problems.

He added the number of IDPs once surged to 25,000 in Balkh due to the past wars and still 10,000 of them are living in this province.

He said: “These displaced families whose number once reached 25,000 f had arrived from some districts of Sar-i-Pul, Faryab, Samangan and Jawzjan provinces to Mazar-i-Sharif”

He said 15,000 of them had returned to their own areas with financial support of some partner organizations and the remaining 10,000 were living in 15 comps in Mazar-i-Sharif.

Many citizens had migrated to other provinces or abroad due to the past twenty years of war in the country.

kk/ma

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