Massive migration from Afghanistan

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, DEC. 22 Two days after the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution seeking to impose further sanctions on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, massive migration has been reported from several parts of the country.

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said that thousands of displaced people are ``streaming'' into Heart due to a cruel drought that has endangered the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

The U.N. Mission in Afghanistan and other international agencies working in Afghanistan on humanitarian projects were opposed to the proposal of fresh sanctions against Afghanistan on the plea that it could only worsen the situation in the country.

A day after appealing for more money to help millions of needy Afghans, the UNHCR has said that from December 11 to 16 nearly 5,000 people had flooded into Heart. ``Arrivals have again picked up, with the result that the Heart camps now house over 11,000 families or 68,000 people''.

The UNHCR statement said that due to insignificant response to funding requests, conditions in the camps are poor. The drought currently affecting Afghanistan has put at risk the lives of over 50,000 families.

In a related development, the foreign staff with the U.N. relief operations plan to return to Afghanistan on Sunday. Sixty-odd members of the U.N. aid agencies had pulled out of Afghanistan fearing reprisals from the local people in view of the fresh U.N. sanctions.

After an assessment of the situation the officials have come to the conclusion that the situation was relatively calm and there was no need to panic.

Pakistan is likely to face the brunt of the new sanctions as the migrants are expected to choose that country as their destination. Though Pakistan has officially banned the entry of new migrants from Afghanistan, thanks to the porous border between the two countries, it is not possible to enforce the ban strictly.

Pakistan intends to appeal to the U.N. Security Council for a review of the fresh sanctions. The contention of Pakistan is that the latest sanctions would further aggravate the misery of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan would have to bear the brunt of the massive exodus expected on account of the curbs.

Pakistan is a close ally of the Taliban regime and one of the three countries in the world (besides Saudi Arabia and the UAE) that recognises the Taliban Government. In fact Pakistan is the only country in the world to have a functional embassy in Kabul.

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Section  : International
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