Victims of massacre remembered

KABUL): Countrywide condolences ceremonies were held today (Monday) in remembrance of thousands of people massacred during the Soviet-backed communist regime in the late 1970s.

In line with last week’s decision of the government, prayers were offered for the victims from 1:30pm to 3:30 pm at all mosques across the country and the national flag flew half-mast in memory of the martyrs.

The Office of Public Affairs the main condolence event in the central capital took place in the Sher Suri Mosque in Kart-e-Chahar neighbourhood. Similar prayers also took place in provincial capitals.

Last night, the victims’ relatives arranged a candlelight ceremony at the Darul Aman Palace in Kabul to honour the dead.

In a declaration, they asked the global fraternity to denounce mass killings and executions over the past three decades as crimes against humanity.

All individuals linked to the grave crime should be barred from contesting elections and removed from government jobs, the participants demanded.

On Sept. 18, the Dutch government issued a list of nearly 5,000 Afghans who were arrested, tortured and killed by the Afghan regime of that time. The list is based on investigations by the International Crimes Unit of the Netherlands National Police.

Dutch police began their investigation into the grisly crime in 2010 after an Afghan immigrant revealed the torture of inmates in 1978-79, when headed the Interrogation Department of the intelligence service.

mud

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