The Ministry of Migration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) says that hundreds of Afghan migrants have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan this month.

According to the ministry, last week, 703 immigrants living in Pakistan returned to the country through the Spin Boldak crossing in Kandahar province.

The Spin Boldak Border Directorate of Kandahar province stated 94 returnee families, including 625 voluntarily and 51 forced returnees, came home after registering with the Immigration Department.

They were introduced to the offices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

A food package was also distributed to each returnee from the office of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

Kandahar Municipality on Wednesday buried 20 unclaimed bodies in the province after forensic examinations.

More than 50 unidentified bodies, including women and children, have been buried by Kandahar Municipality over the past year.

“Through a letter, we were asked to bury the unclaimed bodies by holding a religious ritual. Therefore, we buried 20 unclaimed bodies in a religious ritual. During the past year, we buried more than 50 unclaimed bodies, including women and children,” said Zmarayi Sargand, the spokesperson of Kandahar Municipality.

According to forensic unit officials in Kandahar, the bodies were of people who died under various circumstances.

“The guardians of those we buried are not known. These bodies were found by the police in different parts of the city and districts,” said Mohammad Musa, the head of Kandahar forensics unit.

Local residents want the Islamic Emirate to prevent mysterious murders and to identify and punish the perpetrators of such murders.

“It should be found who he was, why he was killed and who were the killers. The government should investigate. This issue can become a big security challenge in the future,” said Mohammad, a resident of Kandahar.

Afghan Wireless Communications Company (AWCC) inaugurated its seventh sales and services center in Kandahar city this week, amid an increasing number of customers.

AWCC officials said they are trying to increase and improve their telecommunication services to the residents of the southwest region and with the additional sales and service center, they will be able to assist more customers.

“This move is not limited to Kandahar, but we have also increased the number of customer service centers in Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces, and we will increase them in the future as well in order to take care of people’s needs,” said Sayed Noor Ahmad Shah Agha, head of AWCC in southwest Afghanistan.

Local authorities in Kandahar also expressed their satisfaction with the opening of the new AWCC branch in Kandahar city.

“Ninety-nine percent of people use AWCC SIM cards. The remaining one percent use other networks. My request to the authorities is to provide more facilities for the people,” said Mirza Mohammad Zahid, head of the human resources department of Kandahar governor’s office.

The provincial directorate of communications in Kandahar noted that AWCC has now covered all districts of Kandahar.

“The only district left was the remote district of Registan. Alhamdulillah, the people there now also benefit from telecommunication services,” said Noorullah Nouri, provincial director communications in Kandahar.

AWCC is the only company that covers all provinces in Afghanistan with telecommunication and internet services.