The story of a homeless Afghan woman in Pakistan

Report: Ullat Zoha Khan

Vida Shahan is a 29-year-old woman. She is the mother of three children. She lost her husband in a traffic accident five years ago, and after that she was obliged to pay all the expenses of her children. Vida was still a teacher in one of the schools in Kabul city and through this profession she was able to cover her living expenses, but with the closure of girls' schools and the dismissal of female teachers, she was no longer able to endure in Afghanistan. He was afraid of the prevailing situation in the society. He says: My daughter is 16 years old, she is a teenager and I am also single. My son is fed up and cannot support his sister and mother. In Afghanistan, anything was possible. I did not have a man like me. He would attack me or my daughter, forcefully marry someone, there was nothing we could do, I and my children were not safe. I did not want myself or my daughter to fall into the hands of the Taliban and become the wife of the Taliban. My children and I did not have a good future in Afghanistan, so I had to choose to emigrate. do With the help of his family, he borrowed money to buy a visa, paid five hundred dollars for each visa, and sold all his household items and entered Pakistan with the intention of never returning to Afghanistan.

Vida Shahan faced a chaotic immigration situation in Pakistan. She and her three children had no place to sleep at night and no money to buy food. She says that the reason she migrated to Pakistan was that she wanted to go to another country and be supported by human rights institutions. To be able to raise her children easily, but she was never supported by the United Nations and during the six months she was in Pakistan, she could not even pass the first interview.

Although we tried to get the opinion of the United Nations High Commissioner, but this organization did not respond to our emails and calls.

This homeless family has witnessed even worse days. Vida: She says that on one of the normal days when my son went to the park with his friends, the children reported that Amir had taken my son to the police. With the help of the owner of the house, he goes to the court and takes all the legal documents he has with him, thinking that he will release his son, but the police seize his passport and visa and do not allow him to see his son. Vida says: When I returned home again, I called many people. My son is 16 years old and could not stay in prison, but no person and no organization helped me, even the United Nations and the Pakistani police. They don't listen to anyone, they only know money. .

Finally, after three days, Vida is forced to surrender herself and her two daughters to the police. She says: I had no choice. My son was in prison for three days. I had no idea about his condition. I surrendered my daughter to the police.

The Pakistani police imprisoned Vida and her two daughters aged 16 and 5. They remained in prison for seven days and there was still no news of Vida's son: I insisted a lot to bring my son, but there was no one to hear my voice. They were there, the police had no mercy, I saw them beating Afghan women, and Pakistani female policemen were slapping the face of Afghan immigrant women and saying why did you come, you shameless people, you have no dignity, you Afghan women are corrupt, you fugitives.

Vida and her daughters were scared and insulted so much that Vida could not recall these memories during the interview. Vida did not know where their original location was, they had been moved to another place by car, but the room where they were imprisoned was dirty, the carpet was thin and flat, and the room was completely damp: we could not sit on the floor, and after two days for us We were given thin Rojai mattresses, pillows and blankets, we were still cold and because our blankets were thin and the mattresses were so thin that the room was completely damp.

But Vida Amir's son was incarcerated in another prison. He says: We were imprisoned in a room with many children, I didn't count them, but there were more than 15 of us. Bod Amir says that someone was crying and said that his mother did not know that he was imprisoned. We asked him to tell the police to call his family, but the boy did not remember his family's contact number.

Finally, after a lot of harassment and insults, after being imprisoned for seven days, the immigrants were sent to Torkham in big cars. Vida says: "There were a lot of people in the car, the police came and gave everyone's documents, and that day I was able to see my son."

Although the announcement from the United Nations Refugee Agency states that the return of refugees should be voluntary and without any pressure to protect those who are looking for safety, apparently Pakistan's policy towards Afghan immigrants is completely against these announcements. Previously, Amnesty International has published a statement asking Pakistan to stop detaining and deporting Afghan refugees. "If the government of Pakistan does not immediately stop the deportations, thousands of Afghans at risk, especially women and girls, will be deprived of access to security of education and livelihood."

But Vida's wanderings were apparently not over. She didn't have a husband. Crossing the border of Torkham was a dangerous challenge for her. When they passed the border police posts of Pakistan and reached the Taliban outpost, Talib's first question was where is your husband? Vida was scared and Without courage, he could not even speak. His son tells Talib: I am his man, my father is dead. Talib beats Vida's son with a stick in his hand and does not allow Vida to enter Afghanistan. Vida starts crying and He says: We had gone to Quetta for the wedding party of friends, we had entered Pakistan with a token, now where should I go, but it seems that Talib found it very difficult to digest this issue.

Vida says, "At the moment, I realized that ten or twelve students are surrounding me and my children, one telling the other, these women are spoiled because they could not continue their activities after the arrival of the Emirates and they went there for the pleasure of the Pakistanis," Vida says. When I heard this, I shouted: Don't oppress me, Mullah Sahib. I lost my husband in Kabul, I raised his three children with problems, but I was never a bad woman. .

But despite all the efforts, Vida was not allowed to enter Afghanistan and she sits in the corner of the border inside the exit window of Pakistan and the entrance of Afghanistan, waiting for the next verdict: My eldest son Pat Pat was crying, my daughters were scared and they said that their mother What are we doing? My little son couldn't calm down. The stress level in my body was high. Now I can't say many things. I was in a lot of pain. Afghan women are miserable everywhere.

The Taliban ask Vida to ask for her father or brother to hand her over to her family, but Vida says that I have no brother and my father is dead, my mother is old and sick, and I don't know anyone who wants to help me. You are a prostitute and you went to Pakistan as a prostitute. As you can see, none of these people went for a wedding. They all had cases and fled to get out of Afghanistan, but Vida says that I could no longer defend myself. I said that I made excuses for them. I cried and said that my son is sick. If we stay here tonight, my son will die because he has no medicine. Please allow me and my children to go. My words melted their hearts and I don't know how it was a miracle that they allowed me to enter Afghanistan. They also handed over my identity card.

However, despite repeated efforts, we were not able to contact the spokesman of the Ministry of Immigrants and Returnees Abdulmutallab Haqqani. (They did not respond to our calls and messages)

Vida's problems are insurmountable. He was able to enter Afghanistan with difficulty, but he has no shelter in Kabul and does not know where to go. He auctioned his entire house six months ago, and now he is left on the road. He adds: I have nowhere to go. Where has the young woman gone with her teenage daughter, who can we stay with, I don't know how to put my life back together. Vida spends day and night in the house of one of her maternal relatives to live her life.