What is the secret of the disturbing crowding of Pakistan Street? / The chaotic market in front of the Afghan Embassy in Tehran

According to Tasnim news agency – Hamid Hadian and Mehsa Shams: “Our country’s embassy in Tehran is one of the busiest embassies in this country due to the presence of a large number of compatriots. The small and inappropriate building of the embassy is located in a busy street, and due to overcrowding and lack of facilities, clients who come from all over Iran to solve their problems at the embassy have to stand on the side of the road, on the sidewalks, and in front of shops. The crowd presents a very ugly and unpleasant sight from the faces of Afghan immigrants to the passers-by”, said an Afghan immigrant about the situation in front of their country’s embassy in Tehran.

The first time, I went to the Afghan embassy on Pakistan Street to get a visa for news work, in the days when Afghan people were fleeing their country, the Taliban had just settled in Afghanistan, and there were still scattered conflicts in Panjshir and several other areas. The embassy was half-closed and the only help they gave was to say, “Go to the border, maybe they will let you through.” In those days, when I went to Afghanistan, people lined up in front of foreign embassies to get visas and leave Afghanistan. Those days, it was not very crowded in front of the Afghan embassy in Tehran. Now, two years after those days, the Afghan embassy is under the control of the Taliban, although the flag of the previous Afghan government still flies over it, but these days, the main street of the embassy and the surrounding streets are one. It has become one of the ugliest urban landscapes and the busiest parts of Tehran, an ugliness that has offended both the city, the people of the region, and the immigrants who come there to get degrees or solve problems.

When you first enter the street of Pakistan, you think this is a market, busy and at the same time with the presence of people leaning against the wall and resting.

On the right side of the street, in addition to a few grocery stores, there are printing and copying and grocery stores. With this crowd and shops, it is not like a market, the petitioners are also standing on the side of the street and their market is quite hot. It was spread about this street, one of the Afghan immigrants said about the performance of the Afghan embassy in Tehran: “They tell all these three or four thousand people; “Come at 4 o’clock in the morning.”, when we come at 4 o’clock in the morning, they give 40 or 50 people a turn and say; “The crowd is large.” “”Irregularities” in this embassy has become a serious problem.”

Another Afghan immigrant standing behind the embassy doors He says: “Some people sleep here from night to morning, we come at 3 o’clock in the night and we have been here for two days and it is my turn.”

But This is not the whole story, for several months, the residents of Pakistan Street have been protesting the situation around the embassy, ​​although no one takes them seriously. In addition to the embassy, ​​an agency office has been opened in Herat Street, below the embassy, ​​which has also added to the cause and crowding. The residents of the area have almost forgotten their normal life, Mrs. Feroze Rajaifar, a cultural activist who is one of the residents of Herat alley, says: This problem has been permanent for six months, there are people in the area from morning to night, and no one has any influence on the issue of order. During the day, about a thousand people bring themselves here and they have to wait for a few hours or a few days to do their work. On the other hand, at night, a number of immigrants sleep in the alleys around the embassy, ​​sometimes they pitch tents and sometimes they get blankets from the residents, and some at night. They go to people’s houses for the toilet.

On the other hand, the area is always full of garbage due to the population density and the municipality is not able to clean the place. Because of the crowd, they arrive there from the beginning of the morning and bring all kinds of Afghan things with them, for example, local Afghan dishes like bolani, or morsels of bread and cheese and salted chickpeas, they have made a cunning market for themselves. Bolanis look pretty and delicious. Due to the complaints of shopkeepers in the area, the municipal roadblock keeps coming to the area, but no serious action is taken. And he came to Iran legally from Afghanistan and then he came here directly to renew his passport, the situation was not too difficult for him, he was supposed to come here tomorrow to finish his work. You could see all types and looks among the visitors, from women wearing burqas to women who the Irshad patrol would probably come across. Most of the visitors came from the suburbs of Tehran. The petitioner’s new business had flourished, his first client wanted to buy powdered milk for his child and for such a trivial matter he had to go to the embassy, ​​the next one his father had died, they lived in Sultanabad and the forensic doctor wanted a letter from the embassy to hand over the body to them, for Each petition received twenty thousand tomans. From talking to the people, I came to the conclusion that the people who come here are people with low expectations.

The next people we talked to were women who came here. They came, the first woman was Nasima, who said that the facilities inside the embassy are good, but she came out because of congestion, her son was sick and she was taking him to the doctor in Tehran two years ago, she said that the doctors wanted more money from him for visits, she wanted to return to her country as soon as possible. He could not look at the Iranians. The second person was a woman who came to get marriage documents and, as they say, marriage registration, their work also took two days, and since they had come from a long way, they did not know where they should stay for the night. . Some children were also running in the middle of the street and they could be hit by a car at any moment and their parents were not known. One of the residents said that on one of the days, one of the visitors abused him because he wanted to cross the street, when the crowd is large, people of all kinds can be found. The last immigrant I spoke with, one of the clients also wanted to get a certificate to go to a third country, each immigrant had a story.

Story The crowding in front of the embassy has other dimensions, the embassy area is one of the most secure areas of Tehran, which is considered a strategic point due to its proximity to Mossali and the governorate. He gave a more suitable arrangement to the clients in coordination with the Afghan Embassy so that they can only come to the embassy for essential work, this area cannot handle so many people.

However, with All the protests, neither the embassy, ​​nor the city officials, nor the Ministry of Interior have a solution for this chaotic market, those officials who talk every day about organizing the immigrants and now they have not managed to organize a street in the center of Tehran.

These days, the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan Street, Tehran; It’s an intrusive, disorganized and unscheduled place for hundreds of visitors every day, a trend that may cause big problems in the future.

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