Hundreds Demonstrate in Takhar against Warlords, Murder of Children

On April 18th 2006, hundreds of people in the Takhar province of northern Afghanistan staged a demonstration to raise their voices against the brutalities of the war- and drug-lords whose presence has become a dominating factor in their homeland.

Fraidon, the 7-year-old son of M. Yousif was abducted and brutally murdered by warlords in Takhar along with another 6-year-old boy.

Today, the people of the Rostaq District of Takhar live under the constant threat of gunfire, where Parliament’s own Pirem Qul, himself a well-known warlord, imposes brutal tyrannical rule over the people through his gunmen and commanders.

The April 18th demonstration was provoked by the abduction and murder of two young boys, 6-year-old Mohammad Yousif and 7-year-old Fraidon Yousif. Witnesses believe the abductions were carried out by command of Aenuddin Alamboy, son of Haji Alamboy, brother- and father-in-law of Pirem Qul.

On April 13th, people of the minority Uzbek village Sayab arrested three gunmen who confessed that the two boys were abducted in the personal four-wheel-drive vehicle of Commander Aenuddin and taken to an undisclosed area. Villagers flooded the District Office in protest, demanding an immediate investigation. They also provided names of eight other drug-dealers and warlords involved in similar crimes against the people. Pirem Qul was informed of the investigation during a Parliamentary session in Kabul and traveled to Rostaq to personally release his men from custody.

This act intensified an already-angered crowd of hundreds, who surrounded the District Administrator’s office and protested against the criminals’ release. The Administration was forced to re-arrest the 5 suspects, but on the second charge, they were sent to Taloqan, center of Takhar province, rather than Rostaq where the crimes took place. There, the perpetrators were once again released by Sadruddin Alamboy (a member of the Provincial Assembly), the son of Aenuddin Alamboy.

As the protests continued for the release of the two kids, their mutilated dead bodies were found in the Kokcha River in the Dasht-e-Qala area of Takhar twelve days later, on April 25.

The people of Takhar live in unspeakable conditions under the rule of fundamentalist warlords, and the Central government has so far shown no interest in protecting them. To date, numerous protests have been organized, but the news of their plight and the protests staged in response have yet to reach the media, due to the shortage of journalists in the remote regions of northern Afghanistan.