JALALABAD, Afghanistan – At least 12 women were killed in a stampede at a crowded stadium in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, officials said. Among the thousands were women hoping to get visas to enter Pakistan for medical treatment.
Many people in Afghanistan, a war-torn country with minimal health care facilities, cross the border into Pakistan for treatment. But since the spring, Pakistan has sharply reduced the number of visas granted to Afghanistan in hopes of reducing the spread of the coronavirus.
Pakistan recently announced that it would resume issuing visas at a more modest rate. But there was so much urgency that thousands of people gathered at the Jalalabad city soccer stadium before dawn, waiting for tokens to be issued so they could apply for visas. Only 1000 visas were to be processed that day.
Ataullah Khogiani, a spokesman for the governor of Nasanghar province, said about 10,000 people were in the stadium when the stampede took place, including Jalalabad. The distribution of tokens to the mob was horrifying, Mr. Khogyani said.
“There were several thousand women,” he said. “All the sick women who were killed were trying to get visas and go to Pakistan for their treatment.”
Pakistan, despite its tense relations with the Afghan government, is a key destination for Afghans to support the Taliban. There are about 30 million Afghan refugees living there, and until the epidemic hit, there was a steady flow of Afghans across the border, in search of work or medical care.
The Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, which distributes visas to residents of seven eastern and southeastern provinces, has recently reopened after being closed for about eight months due to Pakistan’s coronavirus travel restrictions. Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special envoy to Afghanistan, recently announced a new visa regime that would simplify the process of issuing long-term, multiple-entry visas for Afghanistan.
“Allegations of corruption and misconduct of applicants in recent years have tarnished Pakistan’s image and put visa applicants in trouble,” Mr Sadiq said in announcing the new visa policy.
Nangaranga province officials announced a new process of distributing tokens to visa applicants, aimed at discouraging crowds in view of the huge demand. Mr Khogyani said that under the rules, the first 1000 people would get tokens and the rest would have to try their luck the next day, Mr Khogyani said.
“The women’s section was devastated,” says Abdullah, who has identified many Afghans by one name. “Then the police came and the situation got worse. I escaped from the stadium. When I came back many women fell to the ground and they died. “
In July, a clash on the Afghan-Pakistani border killed 15 civilians in Kandahar province as the Pakistani military launched heavy shelling in civilian areas. Protesters on both sides of the border demanded the resumption of border crossings as Pakistan was closed due to the epidemic.
The carnage took place on another bloody day of violence in Afghanistan, as the Taliban attacked despite ongoing peace talks in Qatar between the militants and government negotiators.
The bloody attack took place in the northern province of Takhar, where a police special forces unit was attacked by the Taliban, officials said. According to Wafiullah Rahmani, head of the provincial council, more than a dozen police officers were killed, who spoke from where the bodies were arriving at the hospital.
Mr Rahmani said the dead included the province’s deputy police chief, head of the Special Forces unit. “The hospital is very busy, and many people are looking for their loved ones,” he said. “This could lead to an increase in accidents, as many police officers are still missing.”
Other security officials raised the toll. “I have counted 50 bodies and I am fed up with the count,” said Karimullah Beck, a pro-government military commander in the area.
Zabihullah Ghazi reports from Jalalabad and Fahim Abed from Kabul, Afghanistan. Mubib Mashal and Nazim Rahim contributed to the report from Kabul.
