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Afghanistan’s Taliban takeover: jitters for LU’s Afghan students as fears for family, future rise
“I don’t know why God is so angry with my people and my homeland
“I don’t know why God is so angry with my people and my homeland. What have we done to bear years of suffering, to inch towards normalcy before being plunged into darkness again and again,” said a visibly anguished Jawad Majeedy, a 27-year-old Afghan national, studying in Lucknow University.
For over a month now, Majeedy was busy talking to his relatives in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan that fell to the Taliban on Monday, completing the Taliban takeover of the war-ravaged country. Majeedy had cautioned and warned his brother and sister living in Kabul to take measures for their safety and had pleaded with them to leave, if possible, but in vain. Now, he has not been able to contact them since Saturday.
“I don’t know about their whereabouts. I don’t know if they are hiding, or whether the worst has happened to them. The worst which we all have prayed to God to protect us from,” said Majeedy speaking about his fear of losing loved ones in the ongoing conflict.
Close to 60 other Afghan students like Majeedy are enrolled in various courses at Lucknow University. The number of Afghan students at Lucknow University has risen in the last couple of years.
“The Taliban are against education. We, who have left our country to get higher education, are not less than an enemy for the Taliban. They only understand the language of guns and will execute us if they come to know about us,” said another student from Afghanistan on condition of anonymity.
The Afghan students, including Majeedy, frequent places in Delhi where people who have managed to escape the Taliban, have arrived in the last few weeks. “I know close to 300 people who have sold their belongings and fled Afghanistan with no hopes of returning. We try to get them places to stay in Delhi at cheaper rates and help them in getting assistance from the Indian government. We also hope to get some news about our relatives from them,” explained Majeedy.
Apart from worrying about family members, their own future worries the students. “I will complete my degree in a few months. I don’t know where I will go then. We cannot call Afghanistan our home till it’s under the rule of the Taliban,” said another Afghan student of LU.
The students have intimated the university administration about their concerns. The University administration has assured the students of all possible help while they stay here.
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