- Title: 'Tell them not to come here' - Pakistan residents and workers on Afghan refugees
- Date: 23rd August 2021
- Summary: QUETTA , PAKISTAN (AUGUST 23, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC ON ROAD VARIOUS OF STREET FOOD VENDOR ROASTING CHICKEN MAN CARRYING CARTON ON HIS SHOULDER (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) TRADER IN DATES, MOHAMMAD YUSAF, SAYING: "There are already more than 3,000,000 Afghan refugees in Quetta and its surroundings; there is already a shortage of business in Quetta. If the refugees come, our problems will increase. The hospitals are overcrowded because of the refugees . Our difficulties will certainly multiply." PEOPLE IN CAFE FOOD BEING PREPARED GROCER SITTING IN HIS SHOP TALKING TO ANOTHER MAN (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) QUETTA SHOP OWNER, MOHAMMAD ASIF, SAYING: "If the government wants to make camps for them they should put up a barrier near the border and restrict them inside the camps there, and provide all facilities to them there. " VARIOUS OF LABOURERS WAITING ON ROADSIDE (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) QUETTA LABOURER, REHMAT GUL, SAYING: "Inflation will increase. Why are they coming here? Tell them not to come here. More refugees should not come here. We are going through a rough time ourselves." TRAFFIC ON ROAD
- Embargoed: 6th September 2021 17:12
- Keywords: Afghan refugees Pakistan residents Quetta Pakistan business owners
- Location: QUETTA , PAKISTAN
- City: QUETTA , PAKISTAN
- Country: Pakistan
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001ERI10SN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Residents and shop owners in Quetta, a border town in Pakistan, expressed concerns on Monday (August 23) over a possible influx of Afghan refugees in their town.
Mohammad Yusaf, who deals in dates, a staple crop of the region, said there was already an lack of infrastructure in the town, with hospitals overcrowded due to the number of refugees already there.
With the rapid advance of Taliban insurgents across Afghanistan and dramatic images of frantic evacuations by emerging from the country, fears that Afghan refugees could start spilling over the border are increasing in Pakistan's border towns.
Traders and businessmen in Quetta said an influx of refugees would increase the woes of the business community in the region.
Images of thousands of Afghans desperately trying to flee their country following a hasty U.S. withdrawal have provoked an international outcry.
The poorly planned evacuations are taking place amid chaos in Kabul, where crowds are being confronted by violence from members of the now-ruling Taliban and U.S. forces and facing checkpoints that are near-impossible to pass.
Pakistan, which shares a 1,640-mile (2,639-kilometre) land border with Afghanistan, has long absorbed the largest number of Afghan refugees even though it is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol.
Within two years of the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, following the conflict ignited by the rise of the Mujahideen, 1.5 million Afghans had become refugees.
By 1986, nearly five million Afghans had fled to Pakistan and Iran.
(Production: Waseem Sattar, Waseem Sattar) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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