Residents of Kabul city reported house-to-house searches, saying the raiding of homes has caused panic among children and women.
The Islamic Emirate said it has launched a clearing operation under the command of Mullah Mohammad Fazal Mazloom, deputy minister of Defense, in some parts of Kabul and its neighboring provinces in orders to tighten security.
The security forces covered many parts of Kabul on Friday. “Around 10 to 15 individuals stormed into the residence suddenly. They spread everywhere in the residence including rooms, roofs, and the kitchen and searched everywhere inside the house,” said Sayed Azim, a resident of Kabul.
Some residents of capital Kabul criticized the house raids by the Islamic Emirate’s forces. “This arbitrary action is wrong. They should have a permit for searches and there should be women among them to search the houses,” said Rashid, a resident.
“If they have information about a crime, they should go search for it, but innocent people should not be disturbed,” said Haroon, a resident.
But the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in a statement that the raids are aimed to detain the robbers, kidnappers and other criminals who have been already recognized by the intelligence service. According to the statement, all necessary measures have been taken to protect civilians and innocent people.
“We have already detected all the (spots) through intelligence, and after full detection, the operations were launched and criminals were detained. There will be searching—of course—if there is nothing no one will be harmed but if the criminals are hiding anywhere, they will be detained,” Mujahid said in a voice clip to TOLOnews.
Meanwhile, in reaction to European Union concerns over human rights violations in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, deputy minister of the Ministry of Information and Culture of the caretaker cabinet, said that if the international community recognizes the new government, they will address the concerns over allegations of human rights violations.
“As long as we are not recognized, and they make criticisms (over rights violations), we think it is a one-sided approach. It would be good for them to treat us responsibly and recognize our current government as a responsible administration. Afterward, they can share their concerns lawfully with us and we will address their concerns,” Mujahid told TOLOnews.
Mujahid’s remarks come after the ambassador and head of the EU delegation in Afghanistan, Andreas Von Brandt, on Sunday said the EU is deeply concerned over human rights violations in Afghanistan, especially the violation of women and girls’ right to education and work. “The substance of my criticism remains: human rights are under threat in Afghanistan, particularly the right to education and right to work,” Brandt tweeted.
Saleem Paiger, leader of the Hizb-e-Mutahid-Fikre Mardum Afghanistan, meanwhile said the Taliban should not make investigations into allegations about human rights violations a condition for world recognition. “The Taliban are Afghans, but they should not take such issues hostage as a condition to be recognized by the world,” he said.
Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) issued a statement on Sunday saying it has not been able to fulfill its duties since the collapse of the former government on August 15, adding that Taliban forces have occupied its offices and are using its equipment.
The AIHRC called on the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent body for monitoring human rights violations in Afghanistan and called on the Taliban to respect human rights. “The AIHRC call upon the Taliban to respect the independence of the AIHRC and its staff and all Afghan human rights defenders, who have worked tirelessly to protect the fights of the Afghan people,” reads the statement.
Reacting to this, Mujahid said AIHRC is not an international body, and added that they have started investigations into allegations regarding the occupation of AIHRC buildings. “AIHRC belongs to the former Kabul administration, and it was an official body in that time and it is not an international human rights body.—Tolonews
