Also, we are so poor: where will we get visas and passports [from] for you people? We don’t earn that much that we [can] get visas to sell shoes.46 They had detained us because of this, claiming we’re Taliban. We asked them for evidence of this claim: did we have any guns on us? Did we have a Kalashnikov, or any other explosive or armament? If we have any armour on us, then prove it. They said that no… you’re Pakistani, so you’re Talibani. Why did you come here? I asked them, ‘Then why do these Afghans come here [Pakistan], brother? We have come just like them for business, to earn money.’ Millions of Afghans work here [Pakistan]; they live here. Does anyone question them like this? Thousands of Pakistanis travel back and forth from here. Are they all Al-Qaeda? They’re all termed Taliban? They refused to listen. This is why they kept me in detention for 10 years. The family also narrated heroic stories of Yasir defying authority while imprisoned. Once, they said, when Yasir was being taken for an interrogation session, he broke into a fight with the guards, challenging the way they treated him. While being led, one of the guards pulled the chain very hard, and Yasir asked him to be gentle. When the guard continued to be rough, provoked, Yasir ensnared the guard within the chains and bit him on the nose. There were other stories of such bravado, related to a nickname Yasir had acquired at Bagram. There, he was called ‘lion’ by the other inmates. But jail authorities instead wanted Yasir to behave like a cat and told him that if he behaved like a cat he would be treated well. Yasir was also known to have urinated in a bottle, splashing its contents at a guard passing in front of his cell, as well as orchestrating a near successful escape, followed by severe punishment in which he was locked in a tiny cage, which he also managed to break open. 2017 We spoke to Yasir again in 2017 to find out more about how he was reacclimating in Pakistan. The contrast between the brave and daring man in his stories of defiance during detainment and the person we met, worn down by infirmity, was stark. Yasir complained of an untreated hernia, which, along with other conditions of poor health, prevented him from working and supporting himself financially. He did not feel he could ask his brothers for help, but without a CNIC and his movement restricted by his Fourth Schedule status, he could not seek quality medical care. He felt he remained unmarried because of this and other mental health disturbances. He repeatedly said that he needed financial help for a good life. while no one was looking.” The official gate remains closed today, but trade and traffic continue to flow, regardless of the political relationship between the two nations. Residents of Chaman do not require visas to travel to Afghanistan, explains Haseeb. Instead they use a local permit, and the border is a bustling market area of foot traffic, the sale of odd goods, construction, hash and other smuggled items. 46  Yasir is referring to Pakistan’s globally known role of taking in over 3 million Afghan refugees following the 1979 Afghan War. These refugees have lived in Pakistan for over 30 years and many have children who were born and raised in Pakistan. Afghan refugees have been allowed to integrate, seek employment, open businesses, and develop their own social and professional networks within Pakistan. Sayeed, Saad & Shah, Radha. “Displacement, Repatriation, and Rehabilitation: Stories of Dispossession from Pakistan’s Frontier.” Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs. April 2017. 38