The news of an Afghan man shot dead while a group of 50 people, all from Afghanistan, trying to cross into Bulgaria from Turkey late October 15 night, reminded me of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s recent statement that “Pakistan is not a brotherly country.” The Afghan war started in 70s uprooted over 6 million Afghans. Neighbouring Iran refused to accept their large scale influx. Those accepted were kept in a confined and cordoned area. They were sent back soon after Russian withdrawal. Only Pakistan was a country that embraced over 5 million Afghan refugees. Irony is that over 3 million Afghans still live in Pakistan. Even Ashraf Ghani, Hamid Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah and many in Kabul government have been living in Pakistan. They are now in Afghanistan but living a life depending on everything being imported or smuggled from Pakistan. From households to everything in daily life use they are dependent on Pakistani manufactured things, meat or wheat. Here in Karachi, they have virtually hijacked the city. Our troubles started when the Afghan refugees came. No one in the world is ready to accept the Afghans, anywhere. And Ashraf Ghani says Pakistan is not a brotherly country to Afghanistan!
SAMINA MALLAH,
Karachi, October 16.