On Wednesday, a stampede in an overcrowded arena in eastern Afghanistan resulted in at least 12 women killed, authorities said. Women are among the thousands of people seeking to secure visas for medical care to reach Pakistan.
Lately, Pakistan declared it would start granting visas at a much more usual speed. However, there have been so many cooped-up requests that thousands crowded in the soccer stadium in Jalalabad's town since dawn, hoping for tokens to be released, which would allow them to apply for asylum. That same day, only 1,000 visas seem to have been released.
Thousands of people across the border towards Pakistan from Afghanistan for medication as Afghanistan is a war-ravaged nation with limited medical institutions. But Pakistan has significantly restricted the number of visas it provided to Afghans since the spring, aiming to mitigate the coronavirus's transmission.
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When the stampede had unfolded, about 10,000 people were in the arena, according to Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesperson for the governor of Nangarhar, that covers Jalalabad. Even as the tokens were all being dispersed to the mob, the stampede happened, Mr. Khogyani stated.
"There were several thousand women," Khogyani stated. "All of those killed were ill women who were trying to get a visa and go for their treatment to Pakistan."
Pakistan is a top destination for Afghans, considering its strained ties with the Afghan government due to its own blind support over the Taliban. Around three million Afghan asylum seekers reside in Pakistan, and there has been a steady influx of Afghans from across borders, finding jobs or hospital treatment before the pandemic hit.
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Moreover, the Pakistani Consulate in Jalalabad, which dispenses visas for citizens from southeastern and seven eastern regions, had just opened recently upon being shut for roughly eight months due to Pakistan's coronavirus travel bans. Pakistan's special adviser for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq, had reportedly proposed a new visa system that would simplify the procedure for granting long-term, multiple-entry visas for Afghans.
During an announcement on the new visa system, Mr. Sadiq said: "The charges of corruption and mishandling of applicants in recent years had tarnished the image of Pakistan and caused hardship to visa applicants."
The regional governments declared a new method for the distribution of tokens to visa applicants in Nangarhar, which had been intended to prevent congestion in lieu of the heavy demand. The very first 1,000 individuals would get tokens underneath the regulations, and the remainder would just have to take their chances the next day, Mr. Khogyani explained.
"The stampede broke out in the women's section," stated Abdullah, an eyewitness, who goes by with one name same as the majority of the Afghans. "Then police arrived, and the situation got worse. I escaped from the stadium. When I came back, several women were lying on the ground, and they were dead."
In July, fighting along the Afghan-Pakistani border rendered 15 people killed in Kandahar Province as heavy weaponry was fired into residential areas by the Pakistani Army.
