A tragic piece of news revealed yesterday that around 24 Afghan illegal migrants drowned on Monday, November 03, near Istanbul while they were trying to reach to Europe. According to the reports the boat was carrying 42 illegal migrants, including 12 children and seven women. The news is really tragic and clearly shows that Afghan migrants are ready to take any risk in search of better living conditions.
Taking notice of the unfortunate incident, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to bring home the bodies of Afghan nationals drowned on Monday. The president was shocked after being informed about the tragedy, a statement from the Presidential Palace said. President Ashraf Ghani extended his condolences to the bereaved families. Definitely, having a last look at the faces of their dear ones the family members of the dead will have some sort of relief but their agony would still be immense. Moreover, it is a Herculean task to make the Afghan people stop leaving their country and following risky routes and destinations in search of better lives.
The political and security situation in Afghanistan has always forced so many Afghans to leave their land and move to other countries to find refuge. There are many Afghans living in the neighboring countries because of the civil wars and severe social and economic conditions in the last 20 years or so.
Though the end of Taliban regime and the developments being made in the country have convinced several to return to their country, yet many still remain dubious about their future in Afghanistan and therefore have opted to live away from their homeland.
Definitely, the life for Afghan people has been very difficult in their own country but the life as refugees has not been a bed of roses. They have had different problems and will keep on facing them unless measures are taken to curb them.
Moreover, if they return to their country, again a pile of problems would be waiting for them. No doubt, Afghanistan has been able to develop, yet the country has not been self sufficient to give better opportunities of contended and blissful life to its people, so most of them who return have to restart their lives from very beginning.
Most of the Afghan refugees started moving to other countries in the region and throughout the world after the Soviet invasion of 1979 and an interminable civil war that followed. About 3.3 million Afghan refugees moved to Pakistan by 1988, most of whom were kept in Peshawar and the rest were somehow settled in other parts of Khyber Pahkthnkhwa.
Moreover, after the incident of 9/11, when International forces engaged in war in Afghanistan, many refugees fearing the situation moved to Pakistan. According to calculations, there were about 5 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan by the end of 2001.
On the other hand, the Soviet invasion compelled many Afghan refugees to move to Iran, as well. Nearly about 2 million Afghan refugees were living in Iran by 1988. Though Iran welcomed warmly the Afghan refugees, better living opportunities for them remained very much limited throughout the country. They have been struggling much even for their basic rights. Currently, nearly 900,000 Afghan refugees live in Iran. About 100,000 Afghan refugees were forcibly deported to Afghanistan in 2007, due to the tightening policies of Iranian government towards the Afghan refugees.
Moreover, several thousand Afghan refugees moved to India, as well. There are some among these refugees, who have been able to find better opportunities of living their lives, but there are many who are not able to have better living standards and they yearn to return to their own homeland.
International organization and the international community must understand that the issue of refugees is an international problem and needs proper attention from international community as a whole. The refugees who leave their homelands in search of better life, most of the times suffer different sorts of hardships before they reach somewhere safe. Most of them even do not reach to the destination they set for and end up in detention center, refugee camps and even death. On most of the occasions they fall prey to the ill intentions of human-smugglers, who discriminate them as much as they can. Furthermore, they have to go through severe kind of psychological depression and strain as they go through the worst sort of experiences.
The migrants and asylum seekers are mostly from the third world countries that suffer from wars, conflicts and political and economic crisis. Finding no guarantee of secure life, they move towards the developed countries of the world in search of contentment and bliss but unfortunately, there are many who do not earn the fortunate end. Therefore utmost efforts should be made to guard the rights of the refugees. There are so many concerning and illegal activities are involved in the migration and smuggling of refugees that risk hundreds of lives. All such activities should be discouraged as much as possible. Definitely there are administrative, political and diplomatic concerns for all the governments of the world to consider, but the issue of migrants is more important than such concerns, as it involves the precious human lives and the lives of human beings stand more sacred than any other concern, belief or ideology.