ISLAMABAD: An Afghan journalist committed suicide in Islamabad’s Gulberg Greens Town on Thursday, it emerged on Saturday.
According to Khaama Press (News Agency), an Afghan asylum seeker committed suicide after the US government denied his application for refugee status. Saim, a journalist, waited nearly two years for his case to be processed because he had a P1 referral case to the US. According to the report, the cause for his “suicide” was the United States’ denial of his asylum plea.
Meanwhile, former Pakistani Senator Afrasiab Khatak wrote on Twitter about why are these Afghans, who have been displaced from their country following the collapse of the former government and the humanitarian crisis in their country, not being recognized as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and government of Pakistan.
Earlier in April 2023, Samiullah Jahesh was willing to sell his kidney to feed his family after being jobless for more than a year after escaping Afghanistan for Pakistan. He said that he had no other option; he had no money or food at home,” Jahesh, a former reporter for Afghanistan’s independent Ariana News TV programme, told local media.
Jahesh is one of several exiled Afghan journalists still living in deplorable conditions more than 18 months after the Taliban gained control of the country and drove hundreds of thousands of Afghans from their homes. Among those who fled were many journalists who had fled the country as the Taliban crushed the once-vibrant independent media environment.
While some journalists could seek shelter in Europe or the United States, those who could not flee their neighboring Pakistan are now in a worsening situation. Their visas will soon expire, and they cannot find work due to the lengthy transfer process into a third country.
