Jogi families living in Kabul seek plots, facilities

KABUL (Pajhwok): Some families of the Jogi tribe in the capital Kabul have asked the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to provide them with plots and other essential facilities.

IEA Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said: “IEA considered all the citizens of the country in the same way and does not distinguish between them, and all Afghans are Afghans, they have the right to life, security, stability and good life in the country, and all are considered as citizens of the country.”

He said: “We also convey their voices to the authorities, we hope that the needs and problems of our compatriots will be addressed soon and they will not remain deprived.”

Jogi people live in Kabul and some other provinces.

They said many years ago they came to Afghanistan from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan but until now they did not have permanent places to reside and were deprived of electricity and clean drinking water facilities.

They said during the past government they were distributed Computarised National Identity Card (CNIC).

Over 30 Jogi tribe families living together in the Regrashen area of Kampani in mud houses said during winter and summer seasons they experienced many difficulties because they had been deprived of electricity and had no access to clean drinking water.

Haji Dastagir, a representative of Jogi trib in Kabul, said he lived in the Regrashen Kampany area with 13 sons, 8 daughters and two wives.

He said his ancestors came to Kunduz province from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Haji Dastagir said they lived for years in Kunduz province but for the past 20 years they lived in Kabul and left their place due to insecurity and conflict.

He said their place of residing is changing, sometimes in one place and sometimes in another place.

Referring to their place of residence, he criticized the previous governments and said that they did not provide them with any kind of living facilities. Although they referred to the authorities many times, but there was no result.

Haji Dastagir asked the IEA to provide them with plots and said: “We are the Jogi tribe, people who do not have a permanent place and land, we go and live at one place and then move to another place when people forced us to leave.”

Criticizing the discriminatory behavior of some people he said that people did not respect them and dubbed them “beggars”.

He also complained that they could not bury their bodies in any cemetery and said that people do not allow them to bury their bodies in public cemeteries, except Badam Bagh cemetery, which is a government one.

The Jogis people living in the Regreshen area in muddy houses they built for themselves on government land, but there are no sanitary, water, electricity and other facilities there.

He lamented due to the non-availability of a permanent place, most of them were deprived of education and currently, most of their children did not go to school.

Referring to the authorities’ response when they raised their problems in front of them, he said their response was: “Go you are Kochi people, you have no place not country, what would you do getting an education.”

Jawad, another Jogi tribe man lodged a similar complaint and said: “We are Jogi for the past 4,000 years but even today our land is not known, from where we are, we have been begging for the past 400 years and our main profession is begging.”

He also criticized the previous governments and said that no fundamental measures were taken to solve their problems, except that they were given charitable aid such as food, clothes, cash and others.

He also demands the distribution of land for a place to live and the distribution of food aid and so on

Zahra Jogi, a woman who lived in the Regrashen Kompany area for the past 14 years along with her 12 children and her husband, said: “This is the government land where we live. When we first came, there was a ditch full of dirt everywhere, but after cleaning, we were able to build a mud room.”

She also asked the IEA government to address their problems and distribute them with plots where they could permanently live.

Zahra also said that the representatives and elders of the Jogis have met with the governments many times and demanded the distribution of a permanent place for living, but their request has not been met yet

She termed the lack of work a major problem for the men in her family and cleaned people’s houses so that her children did not starve.

Najla Jogi, is another woman, who has similar demands and termed unemployment and poverty as the main issues of her tribe.

Her eyes welled up while reminding her problems and said her husband went to Iran and there was no news of him and now she lived in this place with six children.

Najla said they came to Kabul during Hamid Karzai’s tenure and so far there was no news of her husband.

She complained about the humiliating treatment of the Jogi people and said: “Public tell us why our men not working, they humiliate us, our men will work when the government provides us with work, the government should provide us with work opportunities so they could stop begging, for how long we would be begging and for how long our men would stay home.”

She demanded the distribution of permanent places for themselves and said: “We begging for food but we don’t want to beg for a place, we want the government to provide us with plots.”

Pajhwok reporter spoke with some other Jogis in the area who raised similar demands.

Mujahid said: “We consider ourselves obliged to take care of the rights of all nationals and Afghans who live here, IEA considers itself obliged to make their voices heard.”

He asked the Jogi tribe people to refer to the Ministry of Borders and Tribes and share their complaints and demands.

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