A family returning from Pakistan is celebrating their first Eid inside the country after four decades of migration

A TOLOnews reporter in Nangarhar visited a family that had spent over forty years in Pakistan and is celebrating the joys of Eid with their relatives in the country this year.

While the family members are happy about their return, they also ask the interim government to build permanent shelters for newly returned families.

Akhtar Mohammad, deported from Pakistan, told a TOLOnews reporter, "We were always harassed, beaten, and they took our money. At that time, I was 15 to 16 years old. When we went to Pakistan, my brothers were young, and my parents and uncles all died there and were buried there. We were very happy to return to our homeland."

Shah Mohammad, another deportee, said: "We spent about 42 or 43 years in Pakistan. We were born there, got married there. Then we would tell these children stories about our homeland."

The children of this family are also happy to be celebrating Eid this year with their relatives.

Imran, another deportee from Pakistan, said: "This is my first Eid here. Before this, we celebrated Eid in Pakistan. I have many friends here, I play cricket, go to school, and I am very happy here."

According to information from the Directorate of Refugees and Returnees in Nangarhar, during the year 2023, 61,500 families entered the country through the Torkham crossing, of which 80 percent of the families have settled in Nangarhar and the rest in other provinces of the country.