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CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL

Afghanistan Refugees in Pakistan Getting Desperate

Aired October 19, 2001 - 06:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now hundreds of Afghans fled to Pakistan, as you know, when the air strikes began. They join thousands who are already living there as refugees from the ongoing turmoil in their homeland.

As CNN's Amanda Kibel reports this morning, some of them are desperate for any kind of help that a stranger might be able to offer them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANDA KIBEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Hizaratown (ph), a suburb on the western outskirts of Quetta City. Named for the Hizara (ph) people who live here, most of its residents are Afghan refugees who have over the years fled the ongoing war there. These days, Hizaratown has some new residents, mostly Hizara women and children who have left Afghanistan since the U.S. attacks on the country began.

Somewhere in this suburb we were told were a group of new arrivals willing to talk to us. Everyone here seemed to know we were coming and we found a large group of people waiting.

"Right my name," shouts one woman. And from somewhere in the crowd another, "My family has given a martyr from our house and I have pain in my heart."

The shouting became louder and the women more agitated. Voices competing for attention, many claiming they had just arrived in the past few days. A local boy told us most had in fact been here for weeks, even months. Then we discovered someone had told these women we were from an aid agency, and as we searched for new arrivals, they believed this would be a criteria for food or money. No amount of explaining changed their minds. The crowd followed us through the village pleading for help, begging for food.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees says these women are typical of many now coming in. The UNHCR says the refugee situation inside Pakistan is not yet a crisis but numbers are increasing daily. This week alone, UNHCR estimates more than 10,000 refugees have crossed over. There are no new camps here ready to receive them. With official border crossings closed, many slip in illegally through alternative routes and hide in the cities. FATOUMATA KABA, UNHCR: Refugees who are slipping through the net and not getting any assistance may be desperate and we can understand why and there will be even more desperate with the cold setting in.

KIBEL: As the women pounded a steel door behind which we sat trying to do interviews and we finally heard the stories of some of the women inside, it was hard to imagine they could ever feel more desperate than this.

Amanda Kibel, CNN, Quetta, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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