KABUL members on Wednesday criticised the composition of a government-appointed team for investigating the Deh Sabz clash between police and protesting residents.
While ending the session before noon in protest, the house decided to form and send its own team to probe the incident that took place in the Pul-i-Charkhi area on June 24.
Residents protested after unknown gunmen attacked and killed seven workers and owners of brick kilns and injured several others in the Deh Sabz area.
However, 1st Deputy Speaker Yasini said they were not allowed by security officials to closely watch the clash scene. He said security officials did not answer his telephone calls.
He added lawmakers managed to prevent residents from closing the Kabul-Nangarhar highway in Sarobi district in protest against the incident.
A member of the parliamentary team, Allah Gul Mujahid who represents Kabul province in the lower house, said the incident occurred after President Karzai was wrongly told his brother Janat Gul had kidnapped four Japanese engineers.
Without investigating the allegation, he said police attacked his brother in the Pul-i-Charkhi area, where he was meeting owners of brick kilns.
He said seven people, including his cousin, were killed and 20 others were wounded in the attack by police.
“It was a clear plot against me. I am leaving for India tomorrow and would not come back until the matter between residents and the government is resolved and the situation returned to normal,” Mujahid said.
He said after the attack, police arrested his brother and 34 others residents, but released them few hours later.
Another member of the team, Haji Almas Zahid, a lawmaker from central Parwan province, echoed Mujahid’s remarks, saying the parliament should not ignore the issue because it could turn bigger and could reach to the house’s doors. He said not allowing lawmakers to investigate the incident was an insult to them.
Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi cited a Ministry of Interior’s letter that said a team led by Mirza Mohammad Yarmand had been formed for investigating the incident. Yasini and Zahid were members of the team.
But some lawmakers expressed their anger over appointing Yarmand as head of the team and Yasini as its member, saying the move amounted to insulting the house.
Yasini and some others lawmakers staged a walkout from the house in protest against the composition of the interior ministry’s team.
“I have told President Hamid Karzai several times that house members are always insulted by the government. God knows if you think I have not told this to the president,” Ibrahimi said.
He asked lawmakers not to visit the clash site as members of a government team, calling for the creation of a parliamentary team comprising members of the house central investigation, internal security, health and justice panels.
The house was adjourned around 10:30am in protest against the team’s composition.
President Karzai has condemned the incident and has appointed a team led by Kabul governor Abdul Jabbar Taqwa to investigate it.
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