Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 31 (ANI): A couple from Afghanistan with a one-year-old girl fears going back to their country and is seeking permanent asylum from the Indian government.
26-year-old Arifulhaq Poya along with his wife Sadiya Poya and a year old baby girl are currently staying in Mumbai. Arif and his wife are being helped by a local social activist Sadhaya Fernandes who gave shelter to this Afghan family.
Arifulhaq says he was employed in the Afghanistan government’s election commission but under a scholarship scheme, he had come to Goa to pursue MBA in the year 2019 with his wife.
“Recently I had completed my masters but just before I was planning to go back to Afghanistan the Afghanistan government was toppled by the Taliban. Since then we are staying with Sandhya Fernandes in Mumbai,” he said.
He further said, “My visa is about to expire soon and if I go back to Afghanistan I fear that I may get killed as the Taliban are looking for government employees who had worked for the previous government in Kabul. I was working with the election process which is the backbone of any democratic system. I fear for my life there. We have been hearing from our relatives there that the Taliban made certain things mandatory for women and men as per their law.”
Arifulhaq added, “I want to request the Indian government that they should help us by providing a work permit or permanent asylum so that I can secure my family.”
Sandhya Fernandes said, “We met Arif and his wife Sadiya when she was pregnant and having complications with his unborn baby. After knowing the problem I and my few friends have come forward to provide medical help. But after getting treatment we saw the problem of the Taliban. Arif didn’t have a place to live and money so I brought him to my house, and for the last one and half months, they are staying in my house.
“We are trying to reach government agencies seeking help by way of long time visa or work permit for them so that they live here with dignity till Taliban issue gets resolved,” she added. (ANI)
My brother was publically executed for his ties with US troops: Afghani refugee
New Delhi [India], August 30 (ANI): With the US military exit from Afghanistan nearly over, Taliban are targeting and brutally killing Afghan people who worked with the United States and allies in the war-ravaged country.
Dr AS Barak, an Afghani refugee, living in New Delhi told ANI that his brother who worked as a typist with the US troops, was shot dead by Taliban on Sunday.
Barak’s brother was brutally murdered in public, creating fear in the minds of the people. “I received a call yesterday from Kabul where my family members told me that my younger (Abdul) brother was shot dead by the Taliban in full public view,” Dr AS Barak said.
“My younger brother was working with the US troops as a typist. Taliban shot him six times,” Dr Barak said and added that his brother had no personal enmity, neither with the Taliban nor with anyone else.
He said that Afghans are living in constant fear under Taliban terror as the terror group are going to people’s houses, taking their vehicles and trying to interrogate them.
Dr Barak explained that Afghans are living in constant fear of their lives. “We cannot trust Taliban at any cost. They are bombing at public places, openly fire at people.”
Barak is now worried for the other family members, including wife and two sons of his deceased brother two sons. Besides that, he is also worried about the safety of his parents.
Talibani took over Kabul on August 15 and assured that no Afghan citizen will be harmed. However, the reality stands in contrast with this assurance given by the terrorist group.
As the Taliban took control of Afghanistan once again after 20 years, experts believe that Afghan women are most likely to face an uncertain future under the terrorist group regime.
The United States military struck back at the Islamic State on Saturday, bombing an IS member in Afghanistan less than 48 hours after a devastating suicide bombing claimed by the group killed as many as 169 Afghans and 13 American service members at the Kabul airport. (ANI)
