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Somehow there are some cheers coming out of Afghanistan. Strange isn’t it? Some cheers following some dreams, something ‘we the people’ are not used to hearing from Afghanistan. We only expect cries, tears and bomb blasts but yes, they have dreams and some cheers too.
No, no, US troops are still there fighting ‘Terror’...trying to bring peace and stability...it’s just that Gods of Democracy and Liberty still want some more blood and flesh to liberate the world of all the axis of evil.
Anyways, they cheer as it’s time to go back and touch the homeland leaving behind those thin plastic sheeting of the refugee camp. After living a life-time in the refugee camps at Pakistan, the only thing that’s pushing them to build their lives is a dream...A ‘dream’ they have to live with their families; a ‘dream’ they have to touch their homeland and a dream they have to breathe in peaceful air.
They cheer, as they touch their homeland, but then, that’s the only thing to cheer. The moment for dreams to remain dreams, and to face the reality arrives there only. The reality as usual is harsh in Afghanistan; similar to the analogy where a man walks, high on hope, in the desert, searching for the oasis walking endlessly, only to realize that he shouldn’t have been there at the first place.
The ‘dreams’...they see, while they pack their belongings in Jalozai camp in Pakistan that housed thousands of Afghan refugees for nearly three decades now. The ‘dreams’ they see on their way to Balkh province where UN ‘dreams’ of a ‘new village’ too, but just to get shattered to know that UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) programme has only little reassurance to give.
They dreamt of a clinic and a school, but none in site; they dreamt of finance to back their trades, and to make their homes but that only for a few fortunate ones. They dreamt of a better life but given a piece of barren land with just one pump which gives salty water.
How good was the idea when President Bush went ahead to bring the old saying - ‘A coward turns away, but a brave man’s choice is danger‘ to practicality, but how bad was the idea to run for life to the neighboring Pakistan...?
It doesn’t really matter now, why George Bush tried to use 9/11 for his own political gains but for the future historians...keep the record, and those who are already weary of listening to the same old rhetoric over and over again...we have a new choice...let the day go by with a quiet respect for those who are suffering and those who suffered.
RSS 
Millions of them were forced to migrate to Pakistan and other countries worldwide after the country’s invasion by Soviet forces. Many after the forces withdrew, and all the while, the fear and trauma of the Taliban rule, that somehow ended in 2001. Since too, the political stability and social security in the country has gone from bad to worse.
Repatriation is a dream for the homeless; they have been away for decades, and the return sure is worth the cry… cheer as referred! Yet, the irony sways, not many refugees want to return - they do not have land, shelter or jobs in the liberated land.
Appearances are always merrier; closure of Jalozai camp in North West Frontier is a thought of freedom for us and their own dream come true. The opaque side has the reality though, Pakistan breed the refugees when their own terror motives were fulfilled, the camps used as safe and productive heaven for the Taleban and al-Qaeda militants, and now with global pressure to do away with terror – the government sees no way out than to do clear these refugee camps, citing numerous useless reasons.
No mercy is sought out; some have even lived out their entire lives in Pakistan, yet all they get is a fatwa, to maximum repatriation of refugees before the advent of the winter. The meager clan is left with no way forth, but that of insecurity, lack of shelter and limited livelihoods. Repatriation in the past has only resulted in internal displacement and the returning families living in inadequacy. Hope, just hope…this displacement for the home, from that home away from home, doesn’t result in yet another humanitarian crisis or that ‘dream’…