Afghan refugee Nasir Ahmad – living in Porto since 2016 – is hoping desperately that the Portuguese government can help rescue his mother and sister from Kabul before the Taliban close-down mass-evacuations from the city’s airport
He has put in an official request for help – in the full knowledge that his sister’s life particularly is in danger.
Explains SIC, Nasir’s sister is an activist for women’s rights – a concept entirely alien to the Taliban outlook on life.
The young man is certain his loved-ones will be persecuted if they don’t escape “They will go to prison”, he told Porto Canal. “Women mean nothing to them (the Taliban)… they are not even allowed to go to the doctor. They cannot leave the house without a man…”
Nasir left his home-country after refusing orders from the Taliban to sabotage the phone lines of a telecoms company he was working for at the time, explains Porto Canal.
Vânia Martins, a volunteer who works with refugees in Porto, told the station that despite his complicated background, Nasir is a resilient person who wants to plan a future. She says she is hoping the government will give him a “useful, humane response quickly”.
Meantime, Nasir has had help to put a petition up on the public petition’s site which has already gathered 1,400 signatures.
The text nonetheless is very sad. It reads: “In spite of being reserved and fearful of public exposure given the anti-refugee and migrant environment in Portugal, he has taken the decision to expose his situation out of concern for his family”.
Nasir’s mother Roshan Noori, 75, depends on his sister Lida Ahmadi, 35, as she is in a wheelchair. The father died “many years ago”.
Since arriving in Porto, Nasir is described as having taken a master’s degree in marketing at the Portuguese Catholic University, though the “crisis provoked by the pandemic has made looking for a job difficult”.
The young man tries to keep in touch with his stranded relatives, he told Porto Canal, but phone lines are often down, as is electricity.
The situation in Afghanistan is dire, and governments airlifting desperate people out have already acknowledged that they won’t be able to save everyone before the deadline runs out on August 31.
Anyone who would like to add their names to Nasir’s petition, can find it here.
Meantime, the latest news is that the Taliban regime is going to stop qualified people leaving the country from now on, on the basis that they will be needed to help the country ‘recover’.
China meantime has come out against any kind of sanctions against the Taliban, suggesting it will be prepared to play a “positive role” in helping the war-ravaged country that sits on trillions of dollars/ euros/ pounds worth of minerals “that the world desperately needs” (click here).
