Afghan refugees protest outside UNHCR office in Delhi

By Deepika Rathour Chauhan

New Delhi [India], August 23 (ANI): Afghan refugees on Monday staged a protest in front of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Delhi seeking refugee cards, resettlement options to a third country and security from the international body and the Indian government.

Protestors that also included women and children carried banners with the slogan “We want future”.

Speaking to mediapersons, Ahmad Zhia Ghani, head of Afghanistan Community in India, said, “We are gathered here for three of our demands first, refugee cards to apply for LTV ( Long term Visa) in India. Second, resettlement option for that we need a supporting letter from UNHRC so that we can move to another country. Third, security from the Indian Government and UNHRC. We do not have any facilities like education, job.”

“World is seeing the current situation in Afghanistan. Indian Government are rescuing much more Afghans but what is their future. We are here for more than 10 years and we did not have basic document, UNHRC card,” he added.

Ghani further informed that out of 21,000 Afghan refugees 13,000 do not have documents and are struggling for job, education, food and security.

Zarifa, a 10-year-old Afghan refugee said, “We came here in 2016. We want to resettle in Canada. I want to study. We cannot go back to Afghanistan. Taliban will kill us.”

Masla, an Afghan refugee said she want to resettle in America. She along with her family is living in India for seven years. “We do not want to go back to Afghanistan because Taliban do not want us to study and they will kill us,” she told ANI.

The world is closely watching the unfolding situation in Afghanistan as the countries have scrambled to evacuate their citizens from Afghanistan in an attempt to secure their people. Afghanistan is witnessing its worst-ever crisis in decades as the Taliban’s control has forced people to flee the nation in afraid of their atrocities. (ANI)