The U.N. refugee agency has warned that Afghans could die in harsh winter conditions if they don’t get adequate shelter once they cross the border from Pakistan. Almost half a million Afghans have left Pakistan since early October, when the Islamabad government announced it would arrest and deport foreigners it said were in the country illegally. The overwhelming majority of them are from neighboring Afghanistan, though Islamabad insists the policy doesn’t target a specific nationality.
Every morning, as I open the newspaper, I am confronted with a grim reality – a litany of death reports from Jajarkot, where people are succumbing to the harsh reality of inadequate shelter and sanitation basic needs enshrined in our constitution. The situation is exacerbated by the looming threat of pneumonia, especially alarming during the winter months.