Refugee recounts Northern Alliance's brutalities

Peshawar: After the fall of the Taliban government the Northern Alliance troops have let loose a hell of atrocities on Puskhuns and are on looting and raping spree in northern provinces of Afghanistan.

This was stated by an Afghan refugee Said Gul Sulaimankhel, 30, who arrived in Peshawqar on Wednesday night from Afghan northern Kunduz province, while talking to The News here on Thursday. He said that Alliance fighters were robbing men and rapping women particularly Afghans (Pukhtuns) in the areas under their control. The Alliance has let loose a hell of atrocities on Pakhtuns speaking population of Kunduz and other northern provinces, he added.

Said Gul, a resident of district Khanabad in Kunduz, said the honor of life and property was not safe at the hands of the Alliance soldiers. He said that looting and killing of innocent civilians has become a routine matter in the rural areas of Kunduz. He said that the fighters were claiming that they have orders from commanders to kill all Afghans (Pukhtuns) and loot their properties. They said: "Da Afghans Sar Prey, Maal Ye Tala" meaning that cut the throats of Afghans and loot their properties. The house of Afghans (Puktuns) are looted and their livestock taken away by the alliance Tajik and Uzbeks fighters of the northern alliance, the refugee remarked. Three young men were killed by fighters led by commanders Yusuf and Abdul Jabar in Mulla Khel village near Aqtash., he said. He said five days ago the 300-house village was plundered and cattle driven away by soldiers loyal to Professor Rabbani. The house of an Afghan (Pukhtun) was looted and women raped in Char Sari village near Khanabad, the refugee said.

The refugee, a father of a five months old son, said that two handsome teenager boys were taken by the Alliance soldiers from Daulatyar and Kanam village. He alleged that the boys were later sexually abused and made to dance in the camp of the Nothern Alliance soldiers. The NA soldiers even sexually abused Abdur Razzaq, a father of three, he added. Razzaq was arrested after fall of Kanduz and tortured day and night by the Alliance fighters.

The loot and plunder is everywhere in the area under their (Alliance) control, he observed. In Alliance area 15 village of such-tribes of Sulemankhel were looted, he claimed. "Three NA soldiers fractured finger of a respectable person of the village while quarrelling to pull out a golden ring from his finger," he added. Two village of Nasir tribe, one village each of Zakhel Akahel Ali Khel and six village of Umarkhle tirbe were looted in Kunduz, the refugee added.

The Alliance commanders impounded vehicles of Salazai tribesmen in Aliabad and were refusing to return the cars, he said. In the same locality and Imam Sahaib the Pukhtu speaking people were pressurized to vacate their land. The Laar Kahbi section of Tajik have taken possession of the farms Abdul Qadir. Qadir was asked to leave the place and was not allowed to till his land, Said Gul said.

He alleged that the Alliance was following a policy to eliminate Pukhtun speaking people from the Northern Afghanistan. He said that 22 Pukhtun commanders of Kunduz were killed in a conspiracy hatched by the NA. The 22 commanders were taken captive after their surrender. They were put on board of helicopter and pilot parachuting from the copter resulted in the death of all the commanders he observed.

Afghans (Pukhutns) were treated like outclassed and were forced to carry ammunition and other war necessaries for the NA soldiers, he informed. Humiliating body search and treatment, at the hands of Tajik and Uzbeks, two ethnic minorities in Afghanistan have made life miserable for Pukhtuns, he said. The Pukhtuns were never humiliated like this in their thousands years of history, he remarked.

About the food situation Kunduz, he Said Gul said that the plunder and drought have left to starve. Majority of the people in Kunduz could not afford two meals a day, he added "The refugee appealed to the United Nations and other aid agencies to the immediately step for saving the rural people from atrocities and hunger.