The Hindu : New Delhi News : Leaving India as Indian-Afghanis

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 21, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

Leaving India as Indian-Afghanis

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Refugee Afghan family being resettled abroad

NEW DELHI: Raouf Hameed is upbeat about starting a new life. An Afghan refugee living in India for the past 12 years, Hameed will shortly leave for the US where he is being resettled. And when he and his family of nine reach the US shores, they will do so as “Indian Afghans”.

“We have been in Indian since we fled Kabul in 1986. We love this country and its people, but we are going for a better life,” says Hameed on the eve of World Refugee Day which is observed every year on June 20. The fear of racial attacks that several members of his community faced post the 9/11 strikes does not cross his mind.

“We will be seen as Indians. We have imbibed the Indian culture, we are Afghans from India,” he asserts.

Having lived a life of hardships, Hameed is optimistic that he and his family will finally be able to live a more dignified life. “We are nine people living in two rooms. My father cannot work, I could not even complete my education, my brothers and sisters too have not been able to get good education,” he regrets.

Unhappy as he is about leaving his friends in India behind, it is the thought of a more comfortable life for his ageing parents and a promising life for his siblings in the US that makes him “eagerly await his departure”.

Like Hameed, Masood Akbar too has been accepted for resettlement by the US. Akbar arrived from Kabul 18 years ago and his daughter was born in Delhi. But the father of three is also “looking forward” to migrating to the US. His only grudge is that Afghans and other refugees are eyed with suspicion in India. “I have many friends here, but it is sad that people mistook us for being terrorists. We ourselves fled Kabul because our life was in danger,” he says.

Referring to the preconceived notions that his community is greeted with, Akbar says,

“Some Afghans who have been involved in petty crimes were forced by circumstances. Afghans are not bad people.”

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) there are about 8,850 Afghans living in Delhi. And the UNHCR aids refugees in seeking resettlement to a third country, seek voluntary repatriation to the home country or local integration in the country of asylum.

(All names have been changed to protect identities)

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi