Afghanistan: Interior Ministry Defends Local Police Against Accusations of Human Rights Violations

TOLONEWS

The Afghan Local Police (ALP) are violating human rights in several areas of the country, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said in a report released Saturday. AIHRC chief Sima Samar released the report saying that the local police have sometimes created more unrest in the areas under their control. "Some powerful figures sought the creation of the local police, but they have violated human rights in some districts," Samar said. Samar said that in some areas, the ALP were as troublesome as illegally armed groups. "You can't distinguish the ALP from other illegally armed groups," she said. Samar questioned the need for the largely local and illiterate force at all. "What is the need of a local police force if we have more than 250,000 in the army and a police force beyond 2014. Their [ALP] role for after 2014 should be clarified," she said. Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior (MOI), which oversees the ALP, rejected the claims saying that while the local police had been involved in 13 known human rights violations last year, all of these cases were prosecuted. "The local police have only been involved in 13 cases of human rights violations in some parts of the country, for which the perpetrators were prosecuted," MOI spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said. "Local police have been effective in bringing security to the districts under their control. They are a threat to insurgents." Around 13,000 local police have been assigned in 66 districts, and have found to be effective in fighting insurgents, he added. Their number is rise to 30,000 at the end of 2014 when the Nato-led combat troops are set to leave Afghanistan, according to the MOI.