A recent post on X (formerly Twitter) about Afghan parents unable to take their son’s body back to their country for burial has gone viral. In a photo, the parents can be seen crying beside their deceased son’s body in an ambulance in Peshawar.
The family had come from Afghanistan to Peshawar for their son’s cancer treatment after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. However, eight-year-old Muhammad Yasin passed away of the disease. The parents then wanted to return to their hometown in Afghanistan for the burial, but their route via the Torkham border had been closed due to Pak-Afghan security conflict.
The Current reached out to Tahir Khan, the journalist who posted the picture, for an update on the case.
Yaseen was the only brother to eight sisters, Tahir Khan said, adding that the child’s father, Gul Muhammad, drives a rickshaw in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.
Around a year ago, Yaseen was diagnosed with brain cancer in Jalalabad. The doctors there recommended to the parents that they take him to Peshawar for his treatment.
Despite his low income and hardships, Gul Muhammad did everything in his capacity to get his son treated.
The family frequently travelled to Peshawar and back. The son and father received a pass which made it convenient for them to cross borders.
In Peshawar they were always hosted by their hometown fellow who had been working as a farmer.
Yaseen had undergone treatment at the IRNUM cancer hospital as well as Peshawar Hayatabad Complex.
The tumor in his brain was successfully removed, with the child almost recovering. But all of a sudden, on September 4, Yaseen started feeling unwell while in Jalalabad. The parents brought him to Peshawar Hayatabad Complex where on September 7, Yaseen passed away.
Now, the parents wanted to take their son’s body back to their hometown for burial but on September 6, Pakistan closed its Torkham border with Afghanistan after two people, including a Frontier Corps (FC) official, were injured in an encounter between Pakistan and Afghan border forces.
According to the officials, Afghanistan has also started the construction of a checkpoint on their side of the border in a prohibited area “without discussing it with the Pakistani side”, despite an already existing checkpoint, the Larram Post.
The conflict between the two countries complicated the situation for the grieving family whose route back home was via the Torkham border. They went up to the border twice since the passing of their son, but were sent back.
Tahir Khan shared their concern on X (formerly Twitter) in hopes that higher authorities would take notice and help the family cross the border.
They were contacted by an unknown man a couple of days back, who called the family around 2:30 am, promising to help them cross the border, but after that one call, Gul Muhammad was never able to contact the unknown caller and potential helper again since he never picked up his call.
And so, with no help received from the officials, and with their deceased son’s body lying in the hospital since five days, the family decided to take the longer way back home.
They are currently on their way to Jalalabad via Kurram border. While Peshawar to Jalalabad takes only three hours via Torkham border, it can take the family approximately half a day or more to travel via the Kurram border.
