all Eigendreh

Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Beenish Javed & Ali Kaifee
00:26 'Sharif' | Afghan refugee
00:52 'Sharif' | Afghan refugee
01:49 'Alishba' | Afghan refugee

Script:

For Sharif, an Afghan refugee in Pakistan, it's a never-ending wait...he has been desperately trying to reach Germany.

His application to move to Germany has been approved but has yet to be processed by German authorities. 

Sharif has been hiding from police in Islamabad. They recently raided his home and tried to detain him and his family.

Since then, he has been hiding in different locations...l

Sharif (name changed)
Afghan refugee
We are facing many problems here. The biggest problem is the risk of deportation. The police come to the refugee houses every day, and whoever they catch, they take away. If we are found during a search and sent back to Afghanistan, I am 100 percent sure I will be killed.

Sharif was a lprofessor at an Afghan university that had a partnership with a university in Germany.

Sharif
Afghan Refugee
07:00 – 07:20

In 2016, I traveled to Germany for a two-week work assignment. After returning, the Taliban accused me of spying with foreigners and of trying to change the Afghans' way of thinking. It became another reason they started targeting me.

07:20 – 07:40

The Taliban threatened me many times with letters and messages until, in 2018, they carried out an armed attack against me.

When the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, things became much tougher.

In this footage, we see the Taliban raiding his home and taking away his brother, who also previously worked for a German institution. The Taliban accused him of spying for Germany. They later killed him.

Sharif, his wife and children eventually moved to Pakistan last year.

The parents worry for their kids, who are unable to go to school in Pakistan due to fear of being caught.

Alishba
Sharif's wife

When we arrived, our only hope was that our children could study and build a better future. But one year of our lives has already been wasted. Although I try to teach them at home, my biggest request is that we be transferred to Germany as soon as possible, so that our children can continue their education and not lose their time. I never want to return to Afghanistan, because there we will be killed and the future of our children will be destroyed.

The family continues to live under constant fear. Every knock on the door reminds them that security is still out of reach.

+++END+++