Afghan refugees turn F-6 children’s park into ‘tent village’

[Mirzali Khan]

Only citizens get rights, anyone else gets nothing

Why should Pakistan spend anything on these Namak harams

Then the result is shown in F6 park

 

[lastofthepatriots]

All Afghans that are not happy in Pakistan can go back to the land of milk and honey.

 

[SLY]

All Afghans that are not happy in Pakistan can go back to the land of milk and honey.

It's pointless to hate on them most of them have been influenced by the Indian media movies and poverty that is caused by the wars we actually have corrupt people like that in Pakistan also which are not even Afghans but they still work against the country as you can clearly see from the recent events Pakistanis in general always had a good attitude towards Afghans and rest of the Arab world Muslim even though they dont feel the same way towards the Pakistanis but this what Islam teaches us to be patient and help other human beings these Afghans just need to be educated which requires lot of resources and the only way to do that is by getting rid of the corrupt people in Pakistan first

 

[James David]

I had been to this park few months ago. It was bustling with Afghans. There were elderly men, women, youth and children playing around. But this recent development is shocking. There are tents around the park shelters, playgrounds and on the footpaths.​

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Afghan refugees turn F-6 children’s park into ‘tent village’​

Kashif Abbasi
Published July 18, 2022 - Updated about 14 hours ago

View of tents set up by Afghan refugees in a park in F-6. — White Star

ISLAMABAD: Owing to the negligence of authorities concerned, Afghan refugees have taken over a children park in Islamabad and are living there after pitching tents.​

F-6’s newly-renovated children park has become a makeshift campground for the Afghan refugees mostly belonging to the Hazara community, who fled their country following the takeover of Kabul by Taliban.

Initially, the refugees camped outside the National Press Club and later started living in the red zone near Parliament House. However, police and administration managed to remove them from the high security zone.

The refugees then again established their camps outside the press club. However, those belonging to the Hazara community set up their camps in the children park across the road. Nearly 700 Afghan refugees, most of them women and children, have been sheltering in the park for the last few weeks.



“We are living in a public park but we are helpless and shelterless and have no idea where we should go?” said Surya Mosawai, a university graduate from Herat.

She said the refugees had been facing lots of difficulties but no one, including developed countries and other champions of human rights, were paying any heed to their issues.

“Do you think we are living in this park by choice. No. We don’t want to live here but we have no other option. We have been demanding the international community and developed countries, including the United State of America, to provide us citizenship as we can’t go back to our country because of the Taliban,” she said.

Another refugee, Bakar Ahmed, said: “The United Nations High Commission for Refugees should help us.”

He said if developed countries were not ready to accept them, Pakistan should give them asylum.

It may be noted that Pakistan has already been providing shelters to more than 1.3 million Afghan refugees for decades.

Najma Nowrozi, another refugee, said camped life was highly tough as refugees had to go to nearby mosques for using washrooms.

“Even, we are facing shortage of water,” she said and added that some well-off local people had provided them two plastic tanks for storing water. It is a blessing for us but the water is insufficient,” she said, adding: “We are helpless and hopeless.”

Some of the refugees said there was a public toilet near their camps but they had to pay to the operator of the toilet for using it. Similarly, they said, they had to pay to shopkeepers for charging their mobile phones.

The park was recently renovated and restored by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) by spending millions of rupees. However, due to negligence of the civic agency, the same has been taken over by the refugees.

“We are not against refugees, they are our brethren. But we are against setting up of camps in a public park. The CDA and police should remove them from the park,” said Liaquat Khan, a local. Another local resident, Shabbir Ali, said unregulated camps posed a security threat to the locals. He raised questions over the efficiency of the CDA which is the custodian of the public parks.

“These camps should be shifted to some other place as people of the area have been deprived of their right to visit the park as it has been taken over by the refugees,” he said.

When contacted, CDA’s Director General Environment Irfan Niazi told Dawn that he would take up the matter with the capital administration and police to get the park vacated.

He agreed that the park was recently renovated, adding soon it would be vacated for the public.

Send them all back these damn freeloaders!!!!

 

[-blitzkrieg-]

U should be original. In Peshawar we lived and grew up with afghan refugees, i saw how it affected them. If USSR wanted to take over us, we should have used our paid army to defend, that are created for this very purpose, not use proxies and madrassas without thinking abt the future. Those same madrassas eventually produced TTP and ISIS.

You and your comment is a shame to many army irregulars who fought afghan war (battle of hill and the clandestine battle on afghan ground). To our airforce that engaged and Shot down several soviet jets one of which was flown by a guy who later became vice president of ussr. Also an utter shame to our people who died due to soviet bombing and so to the secret service that foiled multiple terrorist attempts of kgb inside our country.
You are a classic na Shukra.that will keep complaining regardless using his obscure understanding.. there was no need for ussr to take over you when they could have deep cut through southern baloch areas to reach the coast.

 

[RescueRanger]

Please hear me out on this. As someone who has lived and worked in Afghanistan and is actually one of the few members here OLD enough to remember the events of the soviet invasion of Afghanistan, let me just say this, I have a lot of sympathy for the Afghan people, despite their hatred for Pakistan.

I was actively involved in nation building in Afghanistan so it breaks my heart to see all the good that we did collectively get washed away in less than a year. In 2017 I worked with the Japanese Emergency NGO (JEN) in Nangrhar developing disaster management skills of Afghan's.

Training of Afghan teachers in (School Emergency Response Team training) = 2017 with support from AKDN, JICA and UN HABITAT.

Prior to this as early as 2006, I worked to help train the Afghanistan National Police Force

My dear friend Col. Mohd. Saifullah (Shaheed) of the Afghan National Police - Photo taken at National Police Academy - Islamabad. [Col. Saifullah embraced Shahadat on Apr 24th 2021 on the outskirts of Kabul fighting the Taliban].

I have a lot of memories tied to Afghanistan:

My friend Jumma Gul and his son and daughters, Jumma Gul was murdered at the hands of the Taliban when they came to power because Gul was an interpreter for USAID.

It is my candid opinion that Pakistan should allow and enable highly skilled Afghan's to take up citizenship and contribute to Pakistan, those who don't wish to stay in Pakistan for whatever reasons, let them be moved on elsewhere. Pakistan should push the UNHCR to expedite Afghan refugee travel document registrations and processing of asylum applications from third countries such as the US, UK, Germany etc.

--
I have never publicised this not on PDF or elsewhere... When the US lead evacuation of Afghanistan happened, I working with a group of Pakistani expats and INGO people we helped 100 Afghans who were connected with a USAID project on nutrition for lactating mothers safely exit Afghanistan into Pakistan through the help of the Nazarene Foundation and the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul (The Ambassador personally answered all our calls and took special attention to get these vulnerable families out of Afghanistan).
--
As it is Friday, I hope Allah (SWT) hears my prayer and brings peace and solace to everyone in the world who is broken-hearted in pain and or suffering, especially the people of Afghanistan who have been through so much and deserve peace and a chance to repair and rebuild their shattered lives.

The world collectively have abandoned Afghan's to an uncertain fate... It breaks my heart, it truly does, because every time I think about it, I see those smiling children's face beaming with joy at learning how to use a computer or parents full of hope for the future...

What future awaits them? Allah knows best.

 

[waz]

This situation will just drag on. House them somewhere for the time being and let them decide then and process them. Most of them can get jobs. Majority are Hazara so it is different from previous waves, maybe Iran can be an option as well?
As for the protests the western nations have long forgot about Afghanistan, it's all about Ukraine now. They won't pay a blind bit of notice.

 

[Foinikas]

But isn’t Pakistan largely responsible for the current state of Afghanistan? You toppled their “corrupt administration” and engineered this outcome.

Only fair you make sure these refugees are given actual support and integrated into Pakistan.

It should make afghans angry to see the Pakistani response to their plight. You put them in the state they are today.

I would really like to introduce you guys to a concept known as “moral values“.

How exactly is Pakistan responsible about taking down the previous regime?

Please hear me out on this. As someone who has lived and worked in Afghanistan and is actually one of the few members here OLD enough to remember the events of the soviet invasion of Afghanistan, let me just say this, I have a lot of sympathy for the Afghan people, despite their hatred for Pakistan.

I was actively involved in nation building in Afghanistan so it breaks my heart to see all the good that we did collectively get washed away in less than a year. In 2017 I worked with the Japanese Emergency NGO (JEN) in Nangrhar developing disaster management skills of Afghan's.

I thought you were in your late 30's or early 40's btw

 

[RescueRanger]

How exactly is Pakistan responsible about taking down the previous regime?


I thought you were in your late 30's or early 40's btw

Mid 40's, I'm an old man...

 

[RescueRanger]

Mid 40s isn't old these days. Pervaiz Ilahi, the next CM Punjab is 76. Imran Khan is 69. They don't look like they will retire soon.

That's Pakistani "Young" but in reality anything over 35 is OLD.

 

[YaqoobAlam]

If these Afghans turn out to be clean from security point of view and Pakistan decides to give them citizenship, Balochistan could be a good option for them since it has relatively lower population density. But then again, Hazaras are already getting targeted there and the overall security is not good either. It would be an out of the frying pan into the fire experience for them.

Secondly, our economy is not good. If their arrival brings small-scale businesses, our GDP would definitely improve. Afghans are good businessmen.

But still, I don`t know if they would get any better life here.

 

[RescueRanger]

If these Afghans turn out to be clean from security point of view and Pakistan decides to give them citizenship, Balochistan could be a good option for them since it has low population density in Pakistan. But then again, Hazaras are already getting targeted there and the overall security is not good either. It would be an out of the frying pan into the fire experience for them.

Secondly, our economy is not good. If their arrival brings small-scale businesses, our GDP would definitely improve. Afghans are good businessmen.

But still, I don`t know if they would get any better life here.

Highly skilled Afghans should be encouraged to work in Pakistan and offered residency. Just like any other country. This is not a bad thing.

 

[RescueRanger]

America also seems to be suffering from old politicians. It's much worse there.

People should give the youth a chance.

 

[Kedikesenfare2]

People should give the youth a chance.

Actually, no. "The youth" is just as incapable as the old gents leading us into chaos. I'd like to see a person in his or her 40's in the office. Someone with life experience but also energy and a fresh' innovative approach.

 

[RescueRanger]

That was my point, men these days can reign for long in their respective fields thus leaving less room for the youth to come forward. It could be a good thing too, only exceptionally great youth should be able to uproot these men who have already established themselves.

I think there is a shift in thinking and the passing of the old guard will be a good thing. I want to see an inclusive, strong, prosperous Pakistan that can stand on the international stage within my lifetime. InshaALLAH.

Actually, no. "The youth" is just as incapable as the old gents leading us into chaos. I'd like to see a person in his or her 40's in the office. Someone with life experience but also energy and a fresh' innovative approach.

Not true, have you seen all the great work the young talent of Pakistan has accomplished? From Start-Up's, Science, Medicine through to technology and USB 3.0? The youth deserve a chance - some of the older people who are clinging onto roles they are just NOT suited for should be forced to retire and sent to the glue factory.