Challenge of Afghan refugees’ influx in Chitral
Sarwar Kamal
According to latest media reports, all arrangements have been completed near Arandu border to accommodate 1,200 Afghan family refugees. The people of Chitral have already shown their reservations and its possible negative impacts on our society and economy.
According to the latest census, the total population of Chitral (upper and lower) is about 0.5 million. If there is an influx of 1,200 families from Afghanistan, we should expect at least 100,000 refugees.
In such a brief and short time, the influx of so many people is quite a formidable number for Chitral, which is one of the most remote and backward areas of Pakistan. We don’t have any factories due to which job creation in Chitral is a huge problem. Our economic condition is vulnerable while our infrastructure is the poorest in Pakistan.
I don’t know what policies and strategy have been finalized and executed by our policymakers in this regard. There is a one billion dollar question: Will these people will be just confined in their shelters or they will be allowed to mix and mingled with the rest of the population in Chitral.
The gravity of the situation demands that a special financial package should be announced be the centre so that we can improve our poor infrastructure and, similarly, the youth of Chitral should be given financial assistance to start their own businesses. We can only cope with this challenge if we make the people of Chitral economically strong.
There should be a national government giving representation to all ethnic groups of Afghanistan. If the security situation in Afghanistan will be stabilized insha Allah we expect an early exit of these Afghan refugees returning to there country.
Simple, this issue is not only of chitral, this issue is of whole Pakistan. I want that take solution of problem.
I fully endorse the ideas,opinion and suggestions given by the writer in this write up. I am also enjoying a healthy debate by some commentators in the comment section. Diversity and difference of opinion is a sign of prospering and broadminded society.Only in monarchy we stick to only one-sided opinion. This is the beauty of democracy. I am grateful that our writer has initiated a healthy debate and people are showing keen interest in it.
Dear Saif i respect your difference of opinion. It is not a matter and a test case of our hospitality. It has multidimensional negative implications on our society, culture and security. You are talking an era where there was a Soviet invasion in Afghanistan and there was cold war.The people of Afghanistan left with no choices to migrate to Pakistan and Iran.Now the ground reality is totally different.The locals ie the Talibans have taken the control of Afghanistan. On the other hand the US after two decades of war and bloodshed and wasted trillions of dollars is now sticks to its scheduled exit plan of 31 August. The Talibans have already announced amnesty for there opponents. So it is meaningless and there is no point we should accomodate Afghan refugees anymore. We should play our cards very smartly.As you know that India initiated a proxy war against us using the Afghan soil.There main target was to sabotage the flagship project of CPEC.The killing of Chinese engineers was a glimpse of this episode. There is every possibility India will continue its barbaric activities. There can be wolf in sheep’s Clothing. In past these shelters or refugee camps were the Paradise of drug trafficking and they were the epicenters of crime. At last on a lighter note i am extending my invitation to you, inshallah you will be served with Kabuli palow,Afghani nan,Afghani kulcha and mantoq.😁😁😁😁👍stay blessed
👍
👍🏽
I am looking at it from another perspective. Chitral is known for its hospitality we all agree on that right? This collective behaviour has been part of our identity for at least some centuries now. isn’t this impulsive behaviour on our part to generalize the criminal incidents to be representative of the overall community? Have we forgotten that kids of my generation i.e. mid 80s of Chitral town still speak fluent farsi? How can we forget the beautiful art of cooking delicious Afghan food inlcuding Pulao, nan, etc. that these Afghan Muhajirs brought with them? How many butchers did we have before 1980? bakeries? etc. No doubt crime rate increased and majority of the jail inmates were Khabulis at one time but does that give us any right to blame the rest of the peace loving Afghans mainly families (who want food, security and shelter) ? Please put yourselves in their shoe and look at the problem from their perspective as well, i am sure you will feel for them and your harsh stance on afghan muhajirs will change.
Thank you!
Each and every one of us should pray to God that these Afghans should return to their own homeland and live there peacefully. We people in Chitral have our own multiple problems and a few of them have been rightly pointed out by our young writer Sarwar Kamal in this article.I fully endorse his views and hope everyone in Chitral would support this idea.
Sarwar, you have always thought of a patriot Whatever you have written, we agree with you. The arrival of Afghans in Pakistan makes us worse.In Pakistan already Unemployment has reached its peak and Unemployment will rise further on Afghans migration to Chitral.
We have not been able to recover from the effects of migration of Afghans in 80s and this time since the Taliban have announced amnesty, migration of Afghan people is above comprehensions. Though not all, but to my fear, this time most of migrants would be criminals, drug and weapon dealers and kidnapers who fear implementation of Sharia law in Afghanistan. Our soil would be used against us by those criminals beside affecting our culture, society and economy as discussed in the article. We have our representation in all the legislative bodies (national, provincial and senate) through MNA, MPAs, Minister and Senator. We can record our concerns but it is the duty of our political leaders to raise the issue at highest levels to avoid any mishaps in future because Leadership is not about elections, its about thinking for generations.
Simply Chitali can’t do any thing we do understand its hard and unbearable those Afghan refugees come over in Chitral BUT it’s a Federal government decision not any local or provincial government. We do cry still nothing going to happen .
I fully endorse the writer’s points with the addition that we simply cannot afford a single family let alone the influx.