A nineteen-year old Tajik girl said, "We know that Jalozai [camp] is a closed door place. The Pakistanis do not want any more refugees there, or anywhere. Where should we go? From the time I opened my eyes in this world I have known only war."
-- Testimony to Human Rights Watch, Shamshatoo camp, Pakistan.
Crossing the Border into Pakistan
Tribal authorities in Pakistan stopped a Tajik refugee woman, her husband, and the rest of their family while they were crossing into Pakistan. The woman said, "We did not even have a coin to give them [the tribal authorities], so they beat my husband. They beat him with a machinegun and broke his hand. They said they wanted to take him with them, but they grew tired of us when more people came who could pay, and they just let us pass with them. . . .Here is better than war, but my husband's hand is still disabled after that beating and he cannot work."
-- Testimony to Human Rights Watch, Shamshatoo camp, Pakistan.
Harassment, Extortion, and Violence Against Afghan Refugees in Pakistan
A male Pashtun refugee in his twenties described what the Pakistani police in Quetta do when they encounter a refugee without identity documents. He said, "if they stop you on the street and ask for your papers during the day, it usually costs five hundred rupees to be set free. If they catch you after midnight for not having an identity document you will have to pay one to four thousand rupees. Once you are in jail, they will add another fifteen hundred rupees for your family to pay. Sometimes, they beat you in jail."
-- Testimony to Human Rights Watch, Quetta, Pakistan.
Many refugees living in camps described beatings during assistance distributions. One refugee said, "Sometimes they beat people at the distributions. People have to pay to convince the police to give them food. Sometimes they pay five hundred rupees, or one hundred or fifty. I have seen them get paid with my own eyes. I saw this [bribery] three days ago [November 19, 2001]. . . . Also, yesterday they were giving mattresses and blankets. There were many people there, at around 11:00 in the morning. They only let people who had chits into the compound. I went there and I told them it is my turn to get these things. A policeman beat me back and told me to wait at another place. He pushed us and beat us with sticks. I know the face of the man who beat me, but I do not know his name. There were many beaten in this way. . . . Sometimes they take the Afghans to the rooms in the commandarie and hold them there. The people who have been arguing about the assistance they just keep for a few days. They release them once they get some money from them. They beat them in those rooms to get money from them. They never beat people on the face. They beat on the legs or back or arms. They do not beat them in a place where people can see."
-- Testimony to Human Rights Watch, new Jalozai camp, Pakistan.
In addition to police brutality in the camps, refugee women reported generally about their security concerns. One woman said, "In this camp, there are many strange men and many different people -- I have to wear the burqa to feel safe." A refugee woman living in new Jalozai camp said, "we have no security in this camp, what we have is not a house, it is covered with plastic but it is not even good to keep out the rain. We have no door to lock." Another refugee woman said, "I am afraid of going to [Kotkai camp] because we have heard that there are a lot of restrictions and people cannot go to the toilet easily, because there are a lot of police there and we will not be safe. I am afraid of fighting and war. They will take the men from us to do fighting. Then who will protect us from all this violence?"
-- Testimony to Human Rights Watch, Jalozai and Shamshatoo camps, Pakistan.
Fear of Return to Afghanistan
"We are afraid to go back because we fear hunger and fighting. If there is peace we will go back. We are afraid of violations against girls, and we are also afraid that people from other villages will come to our place and commit violence against us. They may try to rape me and be violent toward me."
-- Testimony to Human Rights Watch, Shamshatoo camp, Pakistan.
Refugees are afraid of reprisal attacks against their particular ethnic group. Often, ethnic Pashtun refugees described new fears of being attacked because of their ethnicity or because of the assumption that they are Taliban sympathizers. One Pashtun refugee man who is forty-one years old and is from Mazar-i Sharif said he was afraid of attacks by Hazaras and Uzbeks. Another Pashtun man in his mid-twenties from Shabarghan said he was afraid of reprisals by "Hazaras and Shi'as." A refugee woman told Human Rights Watch, "…There will be looting and fighting. I am Pashtun and not with the Taliban, but the people may think I am with them and they will punish me and become angry with me."
--- Testimony to Human Rights Watch, Killi Faizo and new Jalozai camps, Pakistan.
