![In this photo taken last year on February 17, Afghan migrants arrive in a parking lot before leaving the country for Iran, in provincial capital of Zaranj, Nimroz province. [WAKIL KOHSAR AFP]](/cnmi_st/images/2023/07/11/42962-324e2ua-highres-739_416.webp)
HERAT -- Afghans expressed outrage and called for justice after Iranian military personnel attacked a group of 25 Afghan migrants about 1km from Iran's border crossing near Zaranj city, capital of Nimroz province.
The Iranian soldiers opened fire on the group on July 2, killing five Afghans, including a woman and child, and injuring one man.
Abdul Rahman Abdullah, head of the Nimroz provincial public health department, said the victims' bodies were transferred to the provincial hospital.
"We noticed the victims were hit by several bullets when we inspected their bodies," he said.
Iranian media outlets have made no mention of the incident.
Innocents brutally killed
Afghans called the Iranian military action against the migrants a brutal and inhumane act.
"This is not the first time that the Iranian military has violently attacked and killed innocent Afghans," said Zaranj resident Faisal Sahat. "However, such incidents have repeatedly happened inside Iran's territory or near border crossing points."
"Afghans decided to migrate to Iran to escape the prevailing poverty," he said.
"While Iran calls itself an Islamic government, repeated attacks by the Iranian military show that the country has no adherence to Islamic and human principles," Sahat said.
Hassan, 24, a resident of Daikundi province, was one of the victims of the recent attack. He was killed when the Iranian military personnel shot him eight times.
His brother, Ali Ahmad, 19, said Hassan had borrowed money to pay for his journey and wanted to go to Iran to find a job to support his family.
"My brother was forced to migrate to Iran due to unemployment and economic problems. There is no work in our province and Hassan was unemployed for months and decided to go to Iran to find a job," Ahmad said on July 7, when he came to Zaranj to collect his brother's body.
"The cruel attack that the Iranian military carried out on my brother and other migrants is not even done by an animal to another animal," he said.
'Injustice must end'
Afghans are urging international human rights organisations to help bring culprits to justice and to force the Iranian regime to hand over the perpetrators of such crimes to international courts.
Ghulam Farooq Khorsand, a human rights activist in Herat city, said the Iranian regime has been violating the basic rights of Afghan migrants for many years.
"Treatment and actions of the Iranian regime towards Afghan migrants have been inhumane and un-Islamic," he said. "Afghan migrants seek to take refuge in Iran due to economic problems, political crises and unemployment, but the regime shoots them to death indiscriminately."
"The Iranian regime's hostility and mistreatment of Afghan migrants must immediately end," he said. "The United Nations and other responsible international organisations should put pressure on the regime to stop killing, torturing and inhumanely treating Afghan migrants."
Khairullah Samim, a resident of Herat city, expressed outrage that Afghan youth who wanted to migrate to Iran due to poverty and unemployment were shot.
"I demand that international migration and human rights organisations break their silence and bring the perpetrators of such horrible crimes to justice," he said.
"Iranian troops have repeatedly and brutally shot innocent and poor Afghan migrants both in the border areas and inside the country, but they have never been held accountable," Samim said.
"The ongoing injustice must end, and the murderers must be handed over to law enforcement."
"The recent attack on Afghan migrants by the Iranian military that took place on Afghanistan's soil is very sad and horrifying," said Khalil Ahmad Benish, a resident of Badghis province.
"If we had a strong government, it would have defended Afghans against the attacks of the Iranian military," he said.
"The massacre of defenceless migrants is not justified whatsoever."
Afghans eat shit, they have no honor as they are coming to Iran, and then they ask the border guards to spread a red carpet for them. When they ask them to stop, they don't stop. They are not literate, they are not intelligent and most of them are Taliban and they have no intention but to sabotage Iran.
ReplyDirty Persian (Iranian), mind your language. It is not part of our culture to use rude words against Iran and the damned Iranians. If you would still use words like shit, you may better give it to your people because they are Shiites. Shia means dirty, Shia means someone who insults the companions of the Prophet. Shia means someone who separated from Islam and created a Shia or group for themselves. Death to Iran's dirty regime. Death to evil and uncultured Iranians with such words as you used.
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Iran's Akhundi regime should understand that Afghans will not be humiliated as this until the Day of Resurrection. Afghans will get united one day, gather together, and their homeland will be rehabilitated, but the evil of Pakistan and Iran will never be forgotten. Iranians, remember that you started the hostility with the Afghans, not that the Afghans did. Afghans need to know that it is a benefit whenever the loss is prevented. Let's get together, stop fighting, tolerate each other, and treat these evil neighbors, Iran and Pakistan, badly. These two countries do not leave us alone, nor do they see us as human beings in their countries. I say again that we Afghans should unite and stand against these two hostile countries.
ReplyI'm afraid I have to disagree with your statement. We don't need to fight against our neighbors. We must work for the reconstruction and development of our country. From 2001 to 2010 and 2012, more than 70,000 Pakistanis and thousands of Iranians worked in Afghanistan. That is, they came to Afghanistan for labor and work. There is indeed hypocrisy in the later countries, especially those countries that have spent time under British colonial rule and have good relations with them. Pakistan is at the top of those countries, but we don't need to make enmity with others. If we build our country, others, especially our neighbors, will be needy before us. Otherwise, we will face the same problems.
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It is very bad and painful news that a number of poor Afghans who were fleeing their country due to bad economic situation were shot dead by Iranian border guards. Iran, Turkey and Pakistan are three countries that treat Afghan immigrants badly. There is neither Islam nor humanity among the mentioned three countries. The bad situation of Afghan refugees and the barbaric actions of Iran and Turkey are not acceptable to any human being. The ruling regime in Afghanistan should ask Iran and Turkey about beating of the Afghan citizens. It is the duty of the ruling government to provide job opportunities for people at home so that young people would not try to escape from the country.
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There are no jobs for our youth in Afghanistan. All of our youth have the same wish as when will they migrate from Afghanistan to European countries. In Afghanistan, the level of unemployment is increasing day by day. No young person has the hope to make his future bright in Afghanistan. From this moment, thousands of young men and women from Afghanistan go to the neighboring country of Iran, and then they go from Iran to Turkey. Later on, from Turkey they go to European countries. Our youth face a lot of problems on the way to the Iran-Afghanistan border and the Iran-Turkey border. Immigrants are shot by the Iranian police, and most of them are injured or killed. Most of the immigrants are caught by the Iranian police and imprisoned in Iranian prisons. Afghan youths are oppressed in Iranian prisons. For many years, Afghans have been migrating to European countries through Iran. Afghans pass these roads with many problems. Iran has no right to shoot at Afghans on Afghanistan's own soil, and either injure these Afghans or kill them. If we had a strong government, we should have attacked Iran right now and responded to these shots, so that they would not shoot at Afghans in the future. Unfortunately, we do not have a strong government. Iran has a very bad eye on Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan. May God Almighty bring his punishment upon them.
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Iran and Turkey have started appalling treatment of the Afghan refugees. They beat them every day and show no mercy. They cut their flesh and broke their bones. Here in the country, work is multiplied by zero; people can't eat soil. They are forced to migrate. It is the right of all human beings to migrate for a better life, but Iran and Turkey severely torture young people going to European countries. International human rights organizations do not listen to it. These institutions have so-called activities and have not published a single statement on why humanity is being harmed. And why such a cowardly act should be done to a human being. There is no one on our side. May God help all Afghans and continue to have mercy and grace on them.
ReplyIt is said that the husband of a woman named 'Ugly,' and they called him' Shame when their son was born. Shame grew and became a young man, fell ill, and died.
ReplyHis mother cried too much; a woman from the village told her, in consolation; don't cry, sister, as long as Ugly lives, you will get much more Shame.
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