Wahid Ibrahimi, a former security guard who served at the Canadian embassy in Afghanistan, currently resides in a one-bedroom apartment that he is renting for his family.Saiyna Bashir/The Globe and Mail
Inside a small room in a shared home in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, Wahid Ibrahimi describes hearing his 14-year-old daughter screaming from the street. About a month ago, a motorcyclist tried to kidnap her when she went to a nearby bakery.
He is barely finished speaking when his wife, Sheikiba Muhammad Zahir, adds that their youngest son, just over a year old, was playing in front of the door to the home when someone doused him in a hot liquid that burned through his shirt and scorched his small chest.
The little boy lifts up his shirt and reveals his scar. A doctor told his parents the substance was either hot water, acid or another chemical. Some of the younger of the couple’s seven children, who were huddled nearby, cried as they listened to their parents describe what had happened.
Mr. Ibrahimi was a security guard at Canada’s embassy in Kabul until summer 2021, when the Taliban took over Afghanistan. He thought his family would be safe in Pakistan while they waited to hear whether Canada would offer them refuge. Instead, he said, his children have been targeted because of their faith. They are Ismaili Hazaras, a long-persecuted religious minority.
They have been struggling to survive. When The Globe and Mail spoke to them last week, they were living and sleeping in one cramped room without any furniture. A window that faced the street was open slightly, and the sound of people yelling and other noise from the street occasionally filtered in. The family was eating one meal a day, and they couldn’t afford rent. It had been more than a year since they first sought resettlement in Canada, and seven months since they arrived in Pakistan.
In July, 2021, the federal government announced a special resettlement program for Afghans who had helped with Canada’s military and diplomatic missions in Afghanistan. The government also established a humanitarian resettlement program for other Afghans vulnerable to Taliban persecution, including human-rights activists and LGBTQ people.
The government has promised to bring at least 40,000 Afghans to Canada. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) says on its website that 25,400 have arrived since August, 2021. Most of them – 14,860 – have arrived under the humanitarian program. Another 9,045 people have been resettled here through the program for those who worked for Canada.
Asked about Mr. Ibrahimi’s family’s situation, IRCC said in a statement that, because of privacy legislation and the need to ensure the safety and security of those involved, it isn’t able to provide information on specific cases or people.
In the empty room, as their parents spoke, the children listened intently, their faces a mix of worry and sadness. Mr. Ibrahimi turned his focus to a stack of documents he brought with him from Afghanistan. He sifted through the pages, showing letters of appreciation he received from the Canadian embassy in recognition of his service, as well as a copy of his Canadian COVID-19 vaccination record, stamped with the embassy seal.
Ms. Muhammad Zahir said the children have not been the same since the near-kidnapping of their sister, and the attack on their little brother.
“If you see my daughter, she’s so scared, and every day she cries remembering,” she said. “And my son was busy playing, but from that day he’s always in the room crying.” The rest of the kids are in shock, she added, and don’t talk as much as they used to.
Wahid Ibrahimi's one year old son was attacked while he was playing in the street.Saiyna Bashir/The Globe and Mail
Mr. Ibrahimi said his niece Safiya Wazir has been advocating for his family. Ms. Wazir, a New Hampshire state legislator, wrote a letter more than a year ago to Canada’s Immigration Minister, Sean Fraser, urging him to help.
“By virtue of his service to Canada, the Taliban are hunting Wahid,” she wrote in the letter. “If caught, then he will be killed. A similar fate awaits his family. Despite the extreme duress and exhaustion, he remains hopeful that Canada will deliver his family from the Taliban.”
Over a year ago, Ms. Wazir contacted Operation Abraham, an advocacy group that is providing support to Afghan refugees in Pakistan. After The Globe’s interview with Mr. Ibrahimi’s family in Rawalpindi last week, the organization informed IRCC of the attacks on the children.
Shortly afterward, the International Organization for Migration e-mailed Mr. Ibrahimi to tell him the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad had approved a move for he and his family. They would be relocated to a hotel, where they would be provided with beds and more space. But they would remain in Pakistan.
IRCC spokesperson Remi Lariviere said Canada works with the IOM to assist Afghan nationals approved for resettlement in Canada. The IOM is authorized to provide support for them while their resettlement cases are being processed, he added.
“We recognize that many vulnerable people have fled or are fleeing Afghanistan and remain at risk,” he said.
Settled into the new accommodations, Mr. Ibrahimi sent his niece a photo of Ms. Muhammad Zahir sitting with her youngest son in her lap. There was a smile on her face.
“I cried seeing this,” Ms. Wazir said.
Janice Dickson