Baghlan provincial directorate of refugees and repatriation says that nearly 2,000 families have been deported from Iran and Pakistan in the past one year. According to local officials in Baghlan province, provincial government is in close contact with donor organizations to provide them with work opportunities in the province.
“They should be provided with employment and work as a bag of flour and can of cooking oil are not enough for them,” said Mawlavi Mohammad Ibrahim Umari, provincial director of refugees and repatriation in Baghlan.
Meanwhile, a number of Afghan youth who have been deported from Iran and Pakistan say if they are provided with employment inside Afghanistan, they won’t go to Pakistan or Iran, adding that if they are not provided with work, they need to go to the respective countries to find a loaf of bread for their families.
“My two sons have been arrested by police in Iran and now I’m here in Pul-e-Khumri to send them money,” said Zulfaqar, a resident of Baghlan.
He asked the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to provide the Afghan youth with permanent employment so that they don’t go to Iran and Pakistan for work.
Khalid, who has been recently deported from Iran, says if there was work in Afghanistan, he won’t go to Iran for work. “I have been arrested by police in Iran and later deported to Afghanistan,” Khalid said, adding that he would not go to any neighboring countries in case he was provided with employment in Afghanistan to feed his family, or he was obliged to go and find a loaf of bread for his family to survive. This comes amid of distribution of foodstuff and cash assistance to a number of families that have been recently displaced and resettled in Pul-e-Khumri, the provincial capital of Baghlan, and three districts of the province. Local officials say with the close cooperation of a welfare organization they have started surveying IDPs families in the province so that they will be provided with food and cash assistance in near future.
In recent months, a large number of Afghans have been forcibly deported from Iran and Pakistan and the process is still continuing.
On the other hand, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) is working to provide the people with short and long-term jobs so that they do not turn illegal migration to Iran and Pakistan. Saida Ahmadi