180 Baghlan police serve as bodyguards

PUL-I-KHUMRI (PAN): The Baghlan police chief on Monday said 180 policemen have been serving as bodyguards of senior officials, politicians and generals, creating a shortage of personnel in the northern province.

Brig. Gen. Aminullah Amarkhel told Pajhwok Afghan News some provincial council, Wolesi Jirga members and generals used those police officers as their personal guards.

He said police officials were being appointed to serve the masses and using them as bodyguards was illegal, calling for the 180 policemen to be recalled to join their actual duty.

Amarkhel said there would be no problem if the Ministry of Interior authorized giving policemen to serve as guards for politicians, but the police headquarters could not spare more than one policeman to serve as bodyguard.

He said the current police strength could not address people’s concerns and appointing them as bodyguards would weaken the morale of those in the battle-field.

“Twenty policemen have been serving as guards for General Abdul Rashid Dostum alone. I request him with respect and other commanders and public representatives to return these policemen to the police headquarters,” he said.

But provincial council head, Kinja Kargar, who speaks for the Junbish-i-Milli Islami party, rejected Amarkhel’s claims as baseless, saying Dostum had his own bodyguards in Jawzjan province.

Some district chiefs also expressed their concerns over lack of policemen.

Tala-o-Barfak district chief Faiz Mohammad Ameri said the number of police in town stood at 64 and 20 of them had been appointed as bodyguards for influential people.

Baghlan’s Doshi district chief, Shamsuddin Sarhadi, only 55 policemen had been tasked with keeping security for more than 100,000 people in the town.

mds/ma

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