The issue of Afghan refugees is still very much serious and determined efforts are needed to be diverted towards it. Million of Afghan refugees, during different wars and clashes have moved to different countries of the world, leaving behind their near and dear ones. Pakistan and Iran are two of the most dominant countries that have faced the influx of refugees from Afghanistan. The purpose of this editorial is to focus attention on the refugees in Iran and current Iranian decision to send the refugees back to Afghanistan.
According to formal statistics, there are around a million legal Afghan refugees, who traveled with passports, got the visa or paid to stay as legal refugees in the Iran, and there are around two million illegal refugees spread across the country. The Islamic republic has always set deadlines and cautioned refugees to leave the country otherwise they would be persecuted, punished and fined for violation of the law.
Perhaps, each time tens of thousands of Afghan refugees leave the country voluntarily or by force. The situation has become far worse during recent years for Afghan refugees. They do not have the right to work wherever they want.
There are particular sectors where Afghan refugees are employed with harsh conditions of employers, with no legal support. They can only work in stone factories, construction, municipalities, poultry farms etc. They are even banned to work in bakery because, according to respected officials, they do not observe the issue of sanitation.
After the establishment of new democratic government with international community's military and financial support, hundreds of thousands of refugees returned from Pakistan and Iran, in hope for a life with dignity but according to reports at disposal, equivalent number migrated and re-migrated due to widespread poverty and high level of unemployment rate in their home country.
On Sunday, the general directorate for foreign residents and refugees of Tehran province, Mr. Issa Mosavi Nasab said that the refugees would be expelled in the first month of summer if they do not leave the country voluntarily.
Why the government does not pay attention to problems of millions of Afghan refugees? Millions of dollars are spent merely to attract the attention of insurgencies and Taliban-led militants, but attention is paid to destiny of around two million refugees just in Iran? Tens of millions of dollar have been spent in Helmand province to convince farmers to avoid opium cultivation, but yet no major steps held to motivate more than two million Afghan refugees?