A young woman, who took refuge in Pakistan fleeing the Taliban, died of suicide by jumping from the fifth floor of a high-rise building in the B-17 area of Islamabad on Wednesday morning.
The victim, identified as Maryam Sadaat in her 20s, ended her life allegedly due to uncertainty or delay in her immigration application as well as deteriorating livelihood, Mohammad Aman Sheikh-ul Islami, head of a committee of the Afghanistan Refugee Council in Pakistan, who had spoken to Maryam’s family, told KabulNow.
Maryam held a pending US immigration case under the P-2 visa category, Sheikh-ul Islami said, adding that she had been residing in the Pakistani capital with her family for a year with little or no support from any organization.
The victim’s body was taken to a hospital, he noted.
In June, a young refugee from Afghanistan, who was awaiting similar processing of his US P-2 immigration case, took his life by jumping from the sixth floor of a building located in the Golberg Green area of Islamabad.
Following the Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan, a significant number of people sought refuge in Pakistan in a bid to secure asylum and resettlement in the West, including the United States.
While some managed to find safety in these countries, those who remained in Pakistan are grappling with dire conditions. Their visas are nearing expiry raising risks of deportation, and the slow relocation process to a third country has left them with an uncertain future.
These refugees have voiced concerns regarding the slow processing of their immigration applications, but apparently not much has been done.
