Article originally written on 15/12/2006. Moved from my previous blog to here.
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Millions of Afghan refugees live in Pakistan.
Their living standards vary by where they live. The better off Afghans live in built up areas where all living facilities such as electricity, telephone, gas and water are available in each house.
Those who cannot afford such comfort live in camps or areas that do not have the advantage of having these facilities. As a whole the lives of Afghans in Pakistan, especially in Peshawar and rural areas, are miserable.
They are made aware that their stay in Pakistan is not welcomed. The Afghans that have been living in Pakistan for over 30 years now are still called "mahajar" meaning refugee.
Their treatment by the Pakistani police and other governmental department officials is inhuman. Reasons are found to cause Afghans trouble. If a police officer stops an Afghan for no reason whatsoever, the Afghan won’t be allowed to go free even when no fault is found, unless he pays a heavy bribe.
Afghans, who now have to be registered with the authorities after living in Pakistan without being registered for more than 25 years, are victimized in other ways.
They are frequently forced to queue for a whole day to register, only to find out that they have to return another day, or that the card issuing place is not where they should have gone to.
This is not where the abuse stops. There are guards with bamboo sticks that are used to beat anyone that moves out of the line to stretch their legs after standing for hours in the queue. Imagine waiting in the queue for five hours and then realising you need to use the toilet.
It instantly means you have lost your place and would have to come back another day. Speaking to one of the refugees who was going to get registered the next day, I was told he was refraining from eating or drinking from the night before to avoid having to go to the toilet and losing his place in the queue.
The reason Afghan refugees in Pakistan are going through all these ordeals is because they know if they don't register and receive a registration card, it will give the Pakistani police another reason to trouble them and encourage them to seek another bribe to supplement their poor government salaries.
There are three groups of people in Pakistan: The Pakistanis, The Afghans and Other Foreigners.
Afghans have not been given the same status as other foreigners, although this was seen as a good option 30 years ago when they were given special guest treatment.
Sadly time proved that this policy was not intended to give an honorary status to Afghan refugees in Pakistan but was administered to discourage Afghans from obtaining citizenship in Pakistan.
I’ve met people who were born in Pakistan, who went to Pakistani schools, and who have worked and settled in Pakistan, who are still abused by Pakistanis by different means and are now forced to get registered as refugees.
This makes one wonder, how can these people be classified as refugees, when what they should really have is the same rights as any other Pakistani citizen.
They are not allowed to work in any Pakistani institute, organisation or governmental department. The only employment they are allowed is self-employment but this option is also restricted because Afghans are not allowed to buy a place from which to run their businesses.
Being classified as guests - instead of refugees entitled over time to citizenship – has caused all of the hardship.
An example of the nonsense this makes, consider what would happen if your brother was a guest in your house and treated the same way as Afghans in Pakistan.
Even though he is your brother, he is treated only as a guest and therefore has no say in the running of the house while he is your guest.
This, of course, is nonsense. If he contributed towards the maintenance and upkeep of your home while he was staying there, and had a view or opinion about the house he’d like to share with you, he could do so without fearing that he risked being kicked out of the house by you at any time you wished.
He would probably be encouraged to participate in the running of the house as oppose to you making all the rules for him.
Life in Afghanistan is much freer than in Pakistan. Reconstruction is in progress and the international military forces and the national Afghan army have brought more peace than they are given credit for.
Life is more steady and respectful. Lots of Afghans who live as refugees in Pakistan work in Afghanistan, mainly in Kabul and other cities. So why don't Afghan refugees want to return to Afghanistan?
The reason I discovered by asking refugees was education, living comfort and access to health care.
Those refugees that are better off and live in areas where all living comforts are provided do not want to return because they don’t think they can get the same level of comfort and comfort in Afghanistan.
Energy shortage is at a high level. Most houses do not have electricity for days and when they do get electricity, it is only for a short period. In Kabul houses only get electricity for an average of four hours in every 24 hours. There is no gas and water supply is limited.
There is no proper health care problem in place. Those who get ill have to travel to Pakistan to get medical treatment. It is understandable why these people do not want to move back to Afghanistan. However, those Afghans that live in camps would be better off to live in Afghanistan as their living standards are lower than what they would get in Afghanistan.
So education is their issue for not moving back to Afghanistan. Camp refugees told me the education system in Afghanistan is not as good as it is in Pakistan. They have to put up with the miserable lives in Pakistan ,just so their children can get a good education.
Education is the one common reason all Afghans in Pakistan do not want to return to Afghanistan, whatever their financial status. This is a great sacrifice for them to make for the sake of their children’s upbringing - and a great contribution towards the future levels and standards of education for young Afghans brought up in Pakistan.
However, the fact that makes me sad is that their purpose for getting a good education stops with their graduation from school in Pakistan. No further education is acquired because the boys are expected to start earning for their families and girls are married off to spend the rest of their lives doing house work.
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