"Under the pale autumn sun, the sound of crying children blends with the rumble of truck engines at the Chaman border crossing in southwestern Pakistan. Afghan families who have lived in Pakistan for decades are now being forced to leave with only few belongings, including blankets, furniture, cooking pots. Their heartbreak travels with them. Among those waiting to cross into Afghanistan is 42-year-old Zahra. She is fully covered by a blue burqa as she holds her youngest daughter close."
""I was born in Pakistan. My parents came here during the Soviet war," she told DW. "I don't know anyone in Afghanistan, but the authorities have asked us to leave." Lives in danger over sudden expulsion push Millions fled Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion in late 1979. Zahra's parents and over a hundred members of her extended family were among those who made the journey, with the couple settling in a refugee village in Quetta, southwestern Pakistan, where Zahra was born and raised."
Afghan families who have lived in Pakistan for decades are being forced to leave through the Chaman border crossing, carrying only a few belongings. Many refugees fled Afghanistan after the 1979 Soviet invasion and settled in places such as Quetta, where entire extended families have lived for generations. Pakistan announced plans to shut down 54 Afghan refugee villages as part of a campaign to remove what it calls "illegal foreigners." Activists say the expulsions are abrupt and excessively harsh, leaving families with nowhere to go and placing lives at risk amid recent deadly border clashes.
Read at www.dw.com
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