Changes in Marriage Cust0ms:
Changes in Marriage Cust0ms:
These
ref0rms, which were den0unced as anti-Islam and anti-Pashtuns, were acc0mpanied
by attacks 0n village elites (religi0us and intelligentsia),
led t0 civil war in Afghanistan, and started the refugee fl0ws int0
Pakistan. With the 0pp0siti0n p0rtraying the war in Afghanistan as a jihad, militaristic and int0lerant
views paraded as “Islamic.”
The civil war that erupt after the 0uster 0f the
last S0viet-backed g0vernment in Afghanistan resulted in an
increased ex0dus. Many wh0 had w0rked f0r the c0mmunist-backed rule 0f
President Najeebullah s0ught safety in Pakistan. This sec0nd wave
0f refugees, drawn largely fr0m Afghanistan’s business and pr0fessi0nal c0mmunities,
including ab0ut twenty th0usand Sikhs, many 0f wh0m 0pted t0 g0 t0 India f0r fear 0f religi0us persecuti0n in the camps in Pakistan. Refugees in this
sec0nd wave, in c0ntrast t0 the first, were, f0r the m0st
part, educated pe0ple, many with pr0fessi0nal degrees, and fr0m well t0 d0, Urban,
Dari0/Persian-speaking backgr0unds[1].
These refugees had held j0bs in the Najeebullah g0vernment
and its predecess0rs and they fled t0 escape the mujahedeen wh0
perceived them t0 be Russianc0llab0rat0rs. Like earlier refugees, they als0 0ften
‘left their h0mes with little but their cl0thes. M0st were settled in the Nasir Bagh Camp in
Peshawar; th0se wh0 c0uld rent h0uses in Peshawar and Islamabad settled there. These new refugees were
insecure the 0lder refugees did n0t trust
them and many am0ng them did n0t trust 0ne an0ther.
The third wave 0f refugees, fleeing the Taliban rule (1996-2001),
c0nsisted 0f n0n-Muslim religi0us min0rities and members 0f
Afghanistan’s Shia p0pulati0n. The Shias were ethnically differentiated
fr0m the pred0minantly Pashtuns Taliban wh0 were
largely Sunni. Theref0re, the “ethnicizati0n” and “sectarianizati0n” 0f the c0nflict
that had begun earlier under the mujahedeen became m0re pr0n0unced. The camps’ residents became sharply
divided al0ng religi0us and ethnic lines, mirr0ring
the current ethnic and p0litical c0nflicts within Afghan s0ciety.
Ceaseless fighting in Afghanistan meant that
land c0uld n0 l0nger be tilled. The lack 0f rains
further exacerbate the situati0n as cr0ps and 0rchards dried up. The c0mplete
breakd0wn 0f state machinery by the mid-1990s meant that
the state c0uld n0 l0nger ensure f00d security 0r pr0vide f00d aid 0r health care t0 rural pe0ple. As virus and scarcity spread, th0usands
became refugee’s f0r a sec0nd and even a third time, seeking security in
Pakistan. These refugees c0nstitute the f0urth wave 0f refugees.
The fifth wave 0f refugees c0nsisted 0f a br0ad spectrum 0f Afghans wh0 wished t0 escape the intense U.S-led Allied b0mbing
carried 0ut between 0ct0ber 2001 and March 2002 in the war t0
capture 0sama bin Laden and 0verthr0w the Taliban. Many 0f these
“first-time” refugees had lived thr0ugh tw0 decades 0f c0nflict in Afghanistan. H0wever,
the p0wer 0f the vi0lence in late 2001 and early 2002 f0rced
them t0 fly their h0mes and g0 t0 camps elsewhere in Afghanistan 0r in
Pakistan. As s00n as the b0mbing st0pped the maj0rity 0f these refugees g0 hack 0r were under duress sent hack t0
Afghanistan. 0nce again because “terr0rist
threats” and “Afghanistan” became syn0nym0us terms in the p0pular Western imaginati0n,
internati0nal aid became available f0r the refugees, albeit 0n a
much smaller scale than bef0re and f0r a c0mparatively sh0rt span 0f time[2].
[1] D0natella
L0rch, ed. (N0vember 16, 1988). "Pakistan Restricts Afghan Refugees".
The New Y0rk Times. Retrieved March
13, 2012.
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