A DEMAND for justice for the Afghan people has been made to the UK Government following a vigil in Glasgow yesterday to mark the first anniversary of the Taliban takeover.
The call was made as thousands of refugees, including children, remain in limbo in cramped hotel accommodation in the UK as they wait to be housed.
Families are also still seeking help to reunite with loved ones living in fear in Afghanistan as their rights and freedoms are removed by the illegitimate and extremist regime.
Yesterday’s vigil in George Square was organised by Glasgow Afghan United (GAU) which is supporting hundreds of Afghan people all around Scotland.
The charity said it was doing all it could in the face of unprecedented demand in the 12 months since the fall of Kabul.
The Scottish Afghan community has had to deal with a range of shocks as UK Government leaks and inquiries by MPs confirmed just how chaotic the official response to the crisis was, with the Foreign Secretary and key officials on holiday and urgent evacuation requests for those who supported UK authorities ignored.
Abdul Bostani, GAU managing director, said the lives of the Afghan people were torn apart last summer when the Taliban seized power.
“The progress of decades of work was removed overnight, forcing whole families to flee and leaving those who could not at the mercy of a brutal regime with no respect for human rights and no tolerance of difference of any kind,” he said.
“In Scotland, the Afghan community was badly affected by this shock, which opened up old traumas for people as well as new horrors. People were desperate for information about the evacuation of parents, siblings and children but could learn nothing from the UK authorities.
“Stress, anxiety and depression became common and GAU experienced unprecedented demand from the community for our help.”
BOSTANI said the organisation had been forced to expand to become a nationwide resource as refugees were settled across the country.
“We became a vital source of information and support to those in hotels,” he said.
“One year on, we are working with the Scottish Government and other partners to facilitate integration and resettlement, but so much more remains to be done.
“We call on the UK Government to provide further funding for Afghan resettlement, to expand the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and to restore aid funding for the country in this time of desperate need.
“We urge ministers to remove the rule that means bodyguards and other personnel employed through third-party contractor G4S and others cannot be relocated to the UK. And we seek urgent assurance that they will not legitimise the illegitimate, unwanted and anti-democratic Taliban.”
Almost 10,000 Afghans and their families evacuated from Kabul to the UK after the Taliban takeover of the country are still living in hotels a year later.
Drought, the war and the Covid-19 pandemic have caused a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Children are already dying and charities say a million more under the age of five are at risk of dying over the next three months.
