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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: INDIA AFGHANS
HEADLINE: As Afghan Visitors Stop Coming to India, Afghans in New Delhi Hit Hard
TEASER: Many Afghans used to come for medical treatment, for business or for education
PUBLISHED AT: Monday, 04/11/2022 at 4:18p
BYLINE: Anjana Pasricha
DATELINE: NEW DELHI
VIDEOGRAPHER: Masoud Najem
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Salem Solomon, sv
VIDEO SOURCE (S): Original, Some wire clips
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __
TRT: 2:56p
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES:
((INTRO))
[[The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan has left its mark on thousands of Afghans in the Indian capital who over the past two decades set up businesses to cater to Afghans who used to visit India. Now as the flow of visitors from Afghanistan dries up, their livelihoods have been hit hard. For VOA, Anjana Pasricha has a report from New Delhi.]]
((NARRATOR))
Hashmat Pirzada opened this restaurant selling Afghan cuisine after he came from Afghanistan to live in the Indian capital 15 years ago.
((Hashmat Pirzada, Kabul Delhi Restaurant Owner)) ((In Hindi))
"We were not used to the spices here. So, I started this restaurant. It solved our problem.”
((NARRATOR))
The restaurant was among the scores of businesses that mushroomed in this neighborhood to cater to the tens of thousands of Afghans who began visiting India after the ouster of the Taliban in 2001. This area came to be known as Little Kabul.
((NARRATOR))
But since the Taliban’s return to Afghanistan last August, flights between New Delhi and Kabul are suspended. India has no diplomatic presence in the country. The flow of Afghan visitors has dried up.
((NARRATOR))
Pirzada now walks into a restaurant that is usually nearly empty — a far cry from his once-flourishing business.
((Hashmat Pirzada, Kabul Delhi Restaurant Owner)) ((In Hindi))
“We were dependent on Afghan visitors for 80% of our business. So, it has plummeted by 80%. Now Indians or people from Gulf countries come, but there are virtually no Afghans.”
((NARRATOR))
It is the same story in pharmacies, supermarkets, bread stalls, cafes and shops that with signages in Dari made Afghan visitors feel at home. Many came for affordable medical treatment, others for business. Students enrolled in colleges as India offered scholarships to Afghans in a bid to build soft power in the country.
((NARRATOR))
Afghans in India who had rebuilt their lives around these small businesses are devastated. Many are refugees — an estimated 16,000 live in India.
((NARRATOR))
Like Ajmal Nazari, who came to New Delhi ten years ago to escape the conflict in his country.
((Ajmal Nazari, Pharmacy Employee)) ((In Hindi))
“Our business is just down to just 10% of what it used to be. There is no income, no one is getting any work. In my family, three to four members used to work. Now I am the only one who has a job, but even my salary is down to 40%.”
((NARRATOR))
Many shops have shuttered. Roadside stalls that were once buzzing are now desolate.
((Jagmohan Singh, Afghan Refugee)) ((In Hindi))
“All of us are in distress because no one is coming from Afghanistan. We cannot make a living by selling a handful of bread and rolls. I have small children and a daughter at home. It is very tough to manage.”
They also worry about friends and relatives back home.
((Hashmat Pirzada, Owner, Kabul Delhi restaurant, in Hindi))
“I have no words to explain how I feel. What is in the heart, let it stay in the heart.
((NARRATOR))
Although faraway from Afghanistan, the tumultuous events in the homeland they left years ago have once again scarred their lives.
((Anjana Pasricha for VOA News, New Delhi))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateApril 11, 2022 16:43 EDT
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
