With the Eid holiday being celebrated across Afghanistan, family members of the 16 Afghans who were massacred by Taliban gunmen alongside a rural road in Ghor province last Friday have been left with unanswered questions and frustration regarding the government policies many believe led to the killings.
Muhammad Akbar, one of the men martyred on Friday, left behind a wife, five children and two elderly parents. Nek Bakht, his wife, said that her husband was not in the government or associated with any political group; he was simply a labor worker who worked from day to night to support his kids. "What can I say now, why did the Taliban kill them?" she asked.
"I want my dad, now I want the government to kill the killers of my father," said Sakina, Muhammad Akbar's seven year old daughter.
Muhammad Akbar's parents have made pleas for help now that their son - the only breadwinner in their family - is gone. "To the President, Ministry of Interior and Defense, National Directorate of Security and international community: help us, we cannot be tortured anymore," said Haji Muhammad, the father of Muhammad Akbar.
Akbar was one of 16 people who were traveling in two vans through Ghor's rural Lal and Sarjungal districts when they were stopped by Taliban militants, separated from the larger group of passengers and then mercilessly executed one-by-one. Women and children were among those killed, and all of the victims were ethnic Hazaras, a minority group long persecuted by the Taliban.
Muhammad Ibrahim lost his daughter, son-in-law, sister and two nephews. He told TOLOnews his daughter, Latifa, and her husband, Nawruz, were planning to spend the first days of their marriage at Band-Amir Lake in Bamyan province.
"It was 5:30 in the morning when I found out that the Taliban killed passengers from three vehicles in Lal and Sarjangal districts," Muhammad Ibrahim said. "When I went to the hospital, I saw the bodies of five family members - how would you feel to see the bodies of five of your own family members at once?"
For many of the family members of the victims, but also members of the general public and civil society, despair over the senseless death of those killed in the Ghor massacre has been accompanied by anger toward the government policies that many believe allowed the incident to occur. Security officials have confirmed that at least two of the men who led the slaughter were Taliban militants that had recently been released from custody by the Afghan government.
Groups of local residents and activists gathered in different parts of the country such as Kabul, Herat, Ghor and Balkh over the weekend to demonstrate in solidarity with the victims and in opposition to the Taliban and the policies they believe have empowered the insurgent group.
"Our message to the government is that if the government pays the slightest value to the rights of citizens of this country and their blood, then it must stop supporting the Taliban," civil society activist Barry Salam said.
The Ghor Governor on Saturday suggested the releasing of the two men identified as having been in the killing was a result of pressure from members of Parliament and others in the government. The Afghan government has come under a lot of fire from Afghans and foreign governments alike over the past couple years for freeing large numbers of suspected insurgents.
"They are not human, I see them as inhuman, not as an enemy," another activist named Najeeb Paikan said about the Taliban.
"If you want to do Jihad, then go to Gaza for Jihad, why turn Ghor or Paktika into Gaza?" asked Sakina Hussaini, a member of the Herat Provincial Council.
President Hamid Karzai has been one of the biggest proponents of the releases over the past year, arguing that many Afghans were arrested by foreign forces without due cause. The matter has contributed to the souring of relations between Kabul and Washington.
The Presidential Palace has reportedly assigned a committee of seven members to review and investigate the Ghor incident. And President Karzai has supposedly ordered the families of the victims to be given 100,000 AFN.
The past couple months have seen a number of devastating attacks on Afghan civilians by the Taliban. Earlier in July, a suicide bombing in Urgoon district of Paktika province left scores of dead and wounded in one of the bloodiest attacks so far in 2014. A similar attack was carried in Khuwaja Ghar district of Takhar province earlier last week even, killing six and wounding over 30 civilians.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Afghanistan: Families of Taliban's Victims in Ghor Search for Answers
With the Eid holiday being celebrated across Afghanistan, family members of the 16 Afghans who were massacred by Taliban gunmen alongside a rural road in Ghor province last Friday have been left with unanswered questions and frustration regarding the government policies many believe led to the killings.
Muhammad Akbar, one of the men martyred on Friday, left behind a wife, five children and two elderly parents. Nek Bakht, his wife, said that her husband was not in the government or associated with any political group; he was simply a labor worker who worked from day to night to support his kids. "What can I say now, why did the Taliban kill them?" she asked.
"I want my dad, now I want the government to kill the killers of my father," said Sakina, Muhammad Akbar's seven year old daughter.
Muhammad Akbar's parents have made pleas for help now that their son - the only breadwinner in their family - is gone. "To the President, Ministry of Interior and Defense, National Directorate of Security and international community: help us, we cannot be tortured anymore," said Haji Muhammad, the father of Muhammad Akbar.
Akbar was one of 16 people who were traveling in two vans through Ghor's rural Lal and Sarjungal districts when they were stopped by Taliban militants, separated from the larger group of passengers and then mercilessly executed one-by-one. Women and children were among those killed, and all of the victims were ethnic Hazaras, a minority group long persecuted by the Taliban.
Muhammad Ibrahim lost his daughter, son-in-law, sister and two nephews. He told TOLOnews his daughter, Latifa, and her husband, Nawruz, were planning to spend the first days of their marriage at Band-Amir Lake in Bamyan province.
"It was 5:30 in the morning when I found out that the Taliban killed passengers from three vehicles in Lal and Sarjangal districts," Muhammad Ibrahim said. "When I went to the hospital, I saw the bodies of five family members - how would you feel to see the bodies of five of your own family members at once?"
For many of the family members of the victims, but also members of the general public and civil society, despair over the senseless death of those killed in the Ghor massacre has been accompanied by anger toward the government policies that many believe allowed the incident to occur. Security officials have confirmed that at least two of the men who led the slaughter were Taliban militants that had recently been released from custody by the Afghan government.
Groups of local residents and activists gathered in different parts of the country such as Kabul, Herat, Ghor and Balkh over the weekend to demonstrate in solidarity with the victims and in opposition to the Taliban and the policies they believe have empowered the insurgent group.
"Our message to the government is that if the government pays the slightest value to the rights of citizens of this country and their blood, then it must stop supporting the Taliban," civil society activist Barry Salam said.
The Ghor Governor on Saturday suggested the releasing of the two men identified as having been in the killing was a result of pressure from members of Parliament and others in the government. The Afghan government has come under a lot of fire from Afghans and foreign governments alike over the past couple years for freeing large numbers of suspected insurgents.
"They are not human, I see them as inhuman, not as an enemy," another activist named Najeeb Paikan said about the Taliban.
"If you want to do Jihad, then go to Gaza for Jihad, why turn Ghor or Paktika into Gaza?" asked Sakina Hussaini, a member of the Herat Provincial Council.
President Hamid Karzai has been one of the biggest proponents of the releases over the past year, arguing that many Afghans were arrested by foreign forces without due cause. The matter has contributed to the souring of relations between Kabul and Washington.
The Presidential Palace has reportedly assigned a committee of seven members to review and investigate the Ghor incident. And President Karzai has supposedly ordered the families of the victims to be given 100,000 AFN.
The past couple months have seen a number of devastating attacks on Afghan civilians by the Taliban. Earlier in July, a suicide bombing in Urgoon district of Paktika province left scores of dead and wounded in one of the bloodiest attacks so far in 2014. A similar attack was carried in Khuwaja Ghar district of Takhar province earlier last week even, killing six and wounding over 30 civilians.
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