Families of repatriates in Uruzgan demand permanent shelter – Pajwok Afghanistan News

TIRINKOT (Pajwok): Several returnee families in the central province of Uruzgan are complaining of a lack of permanent housing and calling on the government to help them build their own homes.

About 3,000 families who returned from Pakistan say they have no permanent housing to live in and are facing a host of problems as a result.

Tur Jan, who hails from Howrah district, lives in a rented house in Tirinkot town. He said his family was forcibly evicted from neighboring Pakistan and now has no permanent home in Uruzgan.

He said that he was given temporary shelter in the camp, from where he was also evicted.

Yang said: “The Afghan government provided temporary shelter in the camp, but after a while, my family of five was also forced to leave the camp.”

“We were promised plots in the village and other facilities, but the promises remain unfulfilled.”

Baridad, another refugee who returned to Tirinkot from Pakistan four years ago, said he had all the documents from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), but after many years he had not received any help.”

He said that before returning to Uruzgan he sold all his property in the neighboring country, but now he does not have the money to build himself even a one-room house.

He claimed that he was not even included in the list of other humanitarian aid.

Sharifullah’s family returned from Pakistan last year. He complained about the lack of permanent housing and educational facilities for his children.

Sharifullah said: “If we lived in the village, we would have access to many social services.”

These returnees called on the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to fulfill its promises.

They claimed that they were promised plots of land for houses in repatriate settlements, but the promises were never fulfilled.

Meanwhile, local representatives of the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriates also admit that repatriate families do not have permanent shelter.

Deputy Minister Abdul Rahmad Rashid told Pajwok that the ministry was trying to build settlements for returnees throughout the country, including Uruzgan province.

Rashid said, “We have already submitted proposals for the construction of refugee villages across the country to the MEA supremo for approval.”

According to him, after the proposals are approved, work on the construction of settlements for refugees will begin in all provinces.

Since October 2023, Pakistan has forcibly removed tens of thousands of Afghan refugee families from various cities in the country. The returnees were then provided with temporary shelters in a number of villages and then sent back to their own areas and homes.

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