MUMBAI, Sept 18: Mohammed Asif Siddiqi logs on the Internet every morning and frantically surfs all the websites on Afghanistan for an hour. Later, he spends time watching BBC news updates on the country that is presently torn by fierce civil war.``I'm worried about my country,'' he says. And for good reason, Siddiqi's acting Consul General of the Consulate of strife-torn Afghanistan. ``I haven't been there in a year.''And as he speaks, he reminds you of those bewildered Soviet cosmonauts seven years ago, who rocketed into space from the Soviet Union to return to the Commonwealth of Independent States months later.Siddiqi can't return to his country just yet. ``But sooner or later things will settle down,'' he shrugs wistfully. But he knows things will never be the same. Thriving trade between the two countries, especially in clothing and pharmaceutical ground to a halt over a year ago when the ultra-conservative Taliban attacked.``Look at all the trade opportunities we're missing out, Mumbai is agreat port. It would be so much cheaper to ship cargo to Karachi port and thereafter by road to Afghanistan.'' He foresees great potential for rebuilding his country's infrastructure once the fighting dies down.All the Afghan consulates and embassies worldwide still owe allegiance to the government of Dr Burhanuddin Rabbani, whose government presently holds less than 10 per cent of the country. The fanatical Taliban are recognised by just three countries in the world.Siddiqi prays five times a day, ``and each time I ask for peace to prevail in my country.'' The rest of the day, he's busy briefing the city's tiny population of Afghan nationals on the political situation. Last year, the consulate stopped issuing visas and so there's not much work to do. He is assisted by a staff of just two persons.Siddiqi, whose looks belie his age, first came to India two years ago. Ten months ago, he came down from Delhi to take over as acting consul in Mumbai, watching as the last of the diplomats left in adownsizing frenzy. Today, Siddiqi is the last Afghan diplomat in Mumbai. Though it is financially strapped, his government sees no reason to shut down the office.``We've been in Mumbai since 1907, when we bought this piece of land for our consulate,'' the consul general says. In fact his latest headache stems from this prime plot sandwiched between high-rises and the Governor's bungalow on a picturesque Walkeshwar seafront. For nearly four years, the consulate is enmeshed in a battle with a developer who has bought the chawl behind the consulate.The consulate demolished its old bungalow to make a new three-storeyed consulate to house its entire staff. But the BMC has refused to give them a commencement certificate unless they grant the property developer an access road to his plot. The consulate is presently housed in a temporary shed-like structure. Siddiqi says the road will further shrink the consulate's property. And they have already ceded considerable land for the public road.
