Im melissa chan welcome to news asia thank you for joining us more than half of the 2700000 afghan refugees in the world live in pakistan theyre spread across the country in hundreds of camps and neighborhoods with most of them concentrated close to the border of their homeland some refugees have been there for decades since the earlier conflicts before 911 and the american arrival and with the imminent if ever delayed political agreement between the United States the taleban the Afghan Government and other stakeholders on track this could mean that refugees might finally be able to go home but the story is as always more complicated than that. Doing what it takes to survive in pakistan have been rocked man fled afghanistan decades ago and is now making clay pots in her report to support his family its made him financially independent but he says it hasnt made him welcome as a refugee. Ive been living here for 40 years the police have come here many times but they cant do anything because i support myself. Brockman is just one of one half 1000000 afghans currently living in pakistan that make up one of the largest refugee populations in the world. Their future was in focus at a u. N. Summit in islam about this week to mark 40 years of afghanis fleeing their war torn country before the talks came as the u. S. And taliban appeared close to a deal to end decades of conflict during fresh hopes that the refugees could soon return home reducing violence is critical to build confidence and support for the Peace Process that leads to the last big political settlement and a permanent ceasefire. Sus transitions to enabling the peaceful return of the supposed persons and refugees to their homes. Many afghans are eager to leave behind a life in pakistan without basic rights education and opportunity. But theyre also wary of the country theyd return to if the taliban gets a say in afghanistans future. Ill be back months is if it means living under taliban rule once again id rather stay put here in pakistan. We have to. See me for more it was like even a political deal is brokered and there is socalled peace is in afghanistan a country with limited resources to deal with an influx of returning refugees. Indeed melissa have understand is currently not capable of welcoming a large number of refugees back to their homeland there have been small incentives the government has tried to build housing and creating infrastructure for tens of thousands of refugees but these projects are in no way sufficient to deal with the around 2500000 refugees living in pakistan and then theres of course another 1000000 in iran refugees who have returned in the past years lured by promises of help by the International Community and the Afghan Government have been left disappointed with no food or shelter and return back to their host countries or of course tried to make their way to europe we should also not forget that last year alone more than 400000 afghans were displaced inside the country as well due to conflict drugs and other Natural Hazards the government cannot provide for the internally displaced people who are forced to live in tents under extreme weather conditions with insufficient care and no education for their children now some of these refugees have been away from home for decades they might long for their country but the reality is for their Children Home has become a Foreign Place that will be a challenge wont it. Thats true so for the children of 2nd or 3rd generation of afghan refugees many have only heard about afghanistan and stories or they hear about it on the news having lived on foreign land all their lives a large number of if you just would also not consider themselves afghan anymore but theyre also not seen as pakistani or iranian in their host countries either so and pakistan refugees do not have the option of becoming citizens their only document as their proof of their just ration card or our card which is called like that no these cards provide them legal stay but every few months the pakistani government decides on their validity around 1000000. 00 do not even put says any legal documents so there is a lack of sense of security for these refugees children are restricted from going to government funded schools if they want to receive an education they have to pay for private schools which are expensive of course refugees cannot work for their government and of course without proper education theyre limited to lower income work they have no right to own a pakistani driver license was especially its it creates a problems for texas drivers so only recently they were allowed to open Bank Accounts you can just imagine what this means for afghan refugees living in pakistan. So its very tough for afghan refugees in pakistan and yet do some of these refugees also worry about returning to a place where the taliban has power no melissa most refugees are worried about basic necessities such as security and land and shelter if security of land is provided to them a large number of their cities would be happy to return at least that is the impression we got from speaking to afghan refugees living in pakistan this time around however they wont return by receiving promises only. That simi thank you. The hindu kush himalayan region has the highest concentration of snow and glaciers after the arctic and antarctica its melt water feeds asias River Systems but the same fresh water can also in danger of people as in this case in pakistan. Its a documented fact that the worlds glaciers are shrinking but in the character or a Mountain Range a number of them up bucking that trend for now this is just the glacier in northern pakistan its increasing in length and width and its moving downhill carrying with it hundreds of tons of ice and debris that are pushing down into the valley. The one year the glacier move forward 8 to 10 kilometers. Then to keep moving smoothly until there were 4 months when it was really surging forward at about 5 to 7 meters a day people were the. Scientists dont agree on what exactly is causing some glaciers in the karakoram to surge and they call it a material logical anomaly but whats clear is that she is advancing at 10 times the normal rate and its threatening the safety of People Living in the valley. Not just because of its advancing ice sheet and the threat of rockfall she is also creating Glacial Lakes lakes which can burst these images show the village of her son about after it was hit by flooding in july. When a glacier lake bursts. There is an enormous amount of not only the eyes and rocks and what and debris. That falls through. The one. These has the best they can effects basically these stories everything that comes in its way. The United Nations estimates that there are 33 Glacial Lakes that pose an imminent threat of floods in the region potentially impacting up to 7000000 people. Do you think in the bunch whole area will be devastated peoples land homes trees and the whole community if this play surely bursts the whole population and Peoples Properties will be swept away into the river already. Authorities are setting up Early Warning systems to alert communities of any impending flood but thats only one fight in a much bigger battle. Scientists expect that Climate Change will melt a 3rd of the glaciers in the karakoram by 2100 endangering the lives of hundreds of millions. Since coming to power in 2016 philippines president. Has unleashed a controversial war on drugs it has included extra judicial killings while police say some 5000. 00 people have died in what it calls legitimate operations Rights Groups call it murder and put the death toll closer 220000 the streets have become dangerous so in one manila suburb the moms are pushing back. It took these moms to stop the murders. They walk the streets where death squads once roamed but not since these women began their nightly patrols. We started patrolling our community got reenergized and the fear disappeared. People used to be afraid to go out past 7 pm till morning. But when they saw how effective we were because of how we really go right in the Community People regain their confidence i mean i mean. Some of the buying a gun a little. Fear once paralyzed the people of potatoes. In 2016 president but we go to tear take declared a war on drugs shadowy attackers terrorize streets across manila gunning down drug suspects at the height of the crackdown there were as many as 4 murders a day in the philippines linked to the drug trade Rights Groups say these were extra judicial killings sanctioned by the state police deny any involvement. But grief drove these women to step in and keep the peace. And then about they had the womens patrol started in 2016 when there were 2 People Killed in our community we feared more violence so we came up with the idea of patrolling the streets of. The moms never found out who the killers were but now side by side with the police theyre keeping a close eye on things and potatoes as the new face of law and order. Without. Compensation. Mind. Is in order. So the message to Rule Breakers from these rule makers the moms are here to stay so that after so much death to tear us can get back to normal life. Thats it for now head over to our website www dot com forward slash asia to view this show online and for other stories from the region we leave you with some snapshots of life for afghan refugees living in pakistan some love has never known their homeland thank you for watching and well see you next time. Take. Us. With wonderful people and still make the game so special. For all true for. More than football online earth home to millions of species. Saving. Googling ideas tell stories of creative people and innovative projects around the world like the protect the climate boost Clean Energy Solutions and reforestation. Interactive content to inspire people to take action google audience and series of global 3000 on t w and on. Left high and dry by the coronavirus beijings battlegroup travel hits tourist destinations around the world including the european alps the swiss resort town of interlocking is usually a hive of chinese activity. Is a time to say goodbye to g. D. P. Economists launch a new index based on economic environmental and social measures to calculate our wellbeing. And throwing up a storm jordans dancing tourist or to lure in new customers because with us we have. Been lets do business the global tourist sector is counting the cost of covert 19. 00 into law in switzerland is not only a magnet for Chinese Tourists and they know theres big spenders but the chinese who are turning up are more interested in buying masks than expensive swiss watch its straight to the top of europe the young fellow you are where Everyone Wants to go especially chinese normally 10 percent of the tourists see it come from the peoples republic of china but beijings group travel restrictions to contain the coronavirus epidemic have seemed to us numbers fall dramatically in interlochen residents can feel the difference. More space as residents normally the streets are full of chinese to