RAWA.ORG: Takhar residents took to streets against armed men

In April 18, 2006 also people of Takhar protested for murder of Fraidon, the 7-year-old son of M. Yousif by a local warlords.

TALOQAN, Oct 2 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Thousands of people on Monday staged a protest demonstration against the presence of armed commanders in the northern Takhar province.

The protestors demanded of the government to reign in the commanders, who had recently distributed arms to their supporters in an effort to press the government for conceding them more perks and privileges.

Ainudin Rustaqi, member of the provincial council, told Pajhwok Afghan News about five thousand people took to the streets to register their protest against the re-organisation of private militia's by some former commanders in the province.

Without naming any one, Rustaqi said people would not tolerate those commanders and would extend their full support to the government against them.

Abdulllah, one of the protestors, said: "The commanders want to sabotage peace of the province but we will not allow them to do so."

He said former commanders and strong men, including Piram Qul (member of lower house), Qazi Kabir (member of upper house), Bashir Chah Aabi (a local commander), former provincial police chief Mutallib Baig and former Junbish-i-Milli commander Mamoor Hassan had attended the meeting and distributed arms to their loyalists to destabilise the government.

Warlords with records of war crimes and serious abuses during Afghanistan's civil war in the 1990s, such as parliamentarians Abdul Rabb al Rasul Sayyaf and Burhanuddin Rabbani, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, and current Vice President Karim Khalili, have been allowed to hold and misuse positions of power, to the dismay of ordinary Afghans.

HRW, Sep. 27, 2006

He urged upon the government to disarm those men to ensure peace in the province.

Mutallib Baig, one of the commanders, rejected the allegations regarding distribution of arms as baseless. At the same time, he said some commanders had distributed arms to their men.

Provincial Security chief General Aqa Noor Kintoz said the protestors, numbering some 2,000, had informed the law-enforcement agencies about the presence of armed men.

Contacted for comments, police chief of the province Brigadier General Mujtaba Patang also admitted that some commanders had distributed newly-imported arms to their men. However, he would not name any one.

Takhar residents took to streets against armed men

Five thousand people took to the streets to register their protest against the re-organisation of private militia's by some former commanders in the province.