Afghan refugees stage protest rally in Islamabad
Hundreds of Hazara and Shia refugees believe they are stateless people and demand sanctuary in a third country
By Chronicler
Islamabad
Hundreds of Hazara and Shia refugees who continue to stage a very prolonged a sit-in at F-6 Park in Islamabad for the past 115 days, organized a second round of their demonstration by taking out a protest rally for a short distance.
Addressing the countries who were involved in Afghanistan’s peace and war, they chanted slogans and demanded from them to respond to their unclear situation as soon as possible.
They demanded that they should be given shelter in a third country to end their permanent displacement.
Around 650 Afghan migrants of around 160 families belonging mostly to Shia Community continue to reside in F-6 Park for the past three months in the makeshift tents.
They are also facing all troubles associated with harsh and humid summer season of Islamabad.
These families also have small children who are also at the mercy of harsh conditions along with their elders.
These refuges/migrants earlier had setup their demonstration camp in front of National Press Club Islamabad and later they moved to D-Chowk which is part of red zone area to get attention of the world at large.
However, later on the authorities concerned evacuated the red zone from them and they got settled afterwards in F-6 Park. These refugees have established tent village in the park which got no basic facility of life to accommodate such huge number of people.
There is one government toilet near the park which is being used by them for which they pay Rs500 per day.
For bathing/showering purposes they have to rely on washrooms of a nearby mosque. The management of the mosque charges Rs10,000 per month from the women of the camp for availing this basic facility.
Earlier when these migrants/refugees had setup their camp in front of the press club, a few educated persons belonging to the same camp had started teaching their children.
After getting shifted to the park which is situated across the club they have been continuing this practice and these homeless children also get education in an environment which is not very conducive for this or any purpose.
Most of the times the women cook their meals on the fire of the woods and sometime some philanthropists provide them with cooked meals. However, philanthropist works is very limited and they have to rely on themselves to satisfy their appetite.
There are a few huge water tanks, made up of plastic, in which water is stored for them which is used for drinking, washing and other purposes.
These refugees are of the view that they are stateless people and they should be provided shelter in those countries which are basically responsible for fiasco like situation in Afghanistan.
They believe that they are not safe in Afghanistan as genocide of them continue to take place in their native country on account of being member of Hazara Community which is basically a Shia sect of Muslim. A few families of them had arrived in Pakistan before taking over of Kabul by Afghan Taliban and some of them left Afghanistan after full control of Taliban in Afghanistan last year.
The Hazara community has been the target of religious extremist groups in Afghanistan even during democratic government, stated Surrya Musvi who is living in the children park for the past three months.
She said the people in the park are stateless people on the grounds that they were forced to flee from their native area and they got no place to live.
Most of the refugees are basically residents of Balkhav, an area in Mazar Sharif in Afghanistan.
She said there is war in the area between the groups and civilian people are badly suffering. “They pull us from our houses without having any reasons and get us slaughtered because we belong to Hazara minority group.
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