Repatriated families in Uruzgan demand permanent shelters

TIRINKOT (Pajhwok): A number of repatriated families in central Uruzgan province complain about not having permanent shelters and call on the government to provide them assistance to build their own houses.

About 3,000 families who returned from Pakistan claim they have no permanent shelters to live in and as a result, they face multiple problems.

Toor Jan, originally from Chora district, has been living in a rented house in Tirinkot city. He said his family was forcefully evicted from neighboring Pakistan and now they lacked permanent house in Uruzgan.

He said he was provided a temporary shelter in a camp from where he was also evicted.

Jan said: “The government of Afghanistan provided a temporary shelter in a camp, but after some time my five-member family was forced to leave the camp as well.”

“We were promised plots in a township and other facilities, but the promises remain unfulfilled.”

Baridad, another refugee who returned to Tirinkot from Pakistan four years ago, said he possessed all documents from the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), but years elapsed he had never been provided any aid.”

He said he sold all his belongings in the neighboring country prior to returning to Uruzgan, but now he had no money to build even a single room home for himself.

He claimed to have been neglected even from the list of other humanitarian aid.

Shareefullah’s family returned from Pakistan last year. He complained about lack of permanent shelter and education facilities for his children.

Shareefullah said: “If we were living in a township, we would have access to many social services.”

These returnees called on the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to fulfill its promises.

They claimed they had been promised land plots for houses in townships of repatriates, but the promises were yet to be honored.

Meanwhile, local officials of Refugees and Repatriates Ministry also admit the repatriated families have no permanent shelters.

Deputy minister Abdul Rahmad Rashid told Pajhwok the ministry was trying to build townships for the returnees across the country including Uruzgan province.

Rashid said: “We have already sent proposals for building refugee-townships across the country for approval to the IEA supreme leader.”

After the approval of the proposals, work on building refugee-townships will start in all provinces, he said.

Since October 2023, Pakistan has forcefully evicted tens of thousands of Afghan refugee-families from different cities of that country. The returnees were then provided temporary shelters in a number of townships before sending them to their own areas and houses.

aw/ma

Views: 1