Worried about winter, returnees demand houses to live in

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Afghan refugees who have returned from Pakistan are worried about lack of shelter and fast approaching winter and say the government should construct houses for them to live in.

A Pajhwok reporter visited Chamtali township in Khogyani district of eastern Nangarhar province to file a report about the new life and problems of returning refugees.

Shortly before 10am on Thursday,  a truck loaded with household belongings of six brothers arrived at Chamtali township from Pakistan.

Local residents welcomed the brothers before they started unloading the truck. Their belongings showed the brothers led a poor lifestyle in Pakistan.

One of the brothers, Khyali Khan, said they were living in Multan, a city in Punjab province, and were associated with cattle farming.

“You can see there is no proper shelter for us here. We are given a small house, my room is yet to be built and have to spend a few nights in the open.”

His brother Rahmatullah, the father of two children, said he would collect scrap in Pakistan. He said after arriving in Afghanistan, he said he was wondering what to do first --- find work or shelter.

“We were living in Pakistan and police evicted us from there. They told us you are illegal. The government should assist us.”

Syed Hassan, who recently returned from Pakistan, is now living in a ruined house of relatives in Chamtali area. He said he had no money to transfer his belongings to Afghanistan and sold all his cows at half price.

“The government gave us some money in Torkham and we have received no other aid, we are struggling with economic hardships.”

Officials in eastern Nangarhar province say the returning refugees have been provided with primary assistance.

Nangarhar information and culture director Sadiqullah Quraishi Badlon told Pajhwok that they were trying to work for resolving all problems of the returnees.

He said even today acting Minister Refugees and Repatriation held a coordination meeting with representative of OCHA, UNICEF, World Food Program, the International Organization for Migration, the Danish Refugee Council, Save the Children, DACAAR and other aid agencies on solution to the problems of the refugees.

So far at least 150,000 refugees have returned to the country through Torkham during the last two months.

ma