AHRC dubs HRW report as unauthentic

KABUL Human Rights Commission (AHRC) chief on Thursday said the latest Human Rights Watch (HRW)’s report on human rights violators in Afghanistan “is not authentic.”

The HRW report released Tuesday (March 3) calls on new President Ashraf Ghani and his government to prosecute officials and commanders “whose serious human rights abuses have long gone unpunished.”

The report titled Today We Shall All Die: Afghanistan’s Strongmen and the Legacy of Impunity, said the “previous Afghan government and the United States enabled powerful and abusive individuals and their forces to commit atrocities for too long without being held to account.”

The report based on 125 interviews HRW has carried out since August 2012 profiles eight “strongmen” linked to police, intelligence, and militia forces responsible for serious abuses in recent years.

The eight men named were Hazara leader Abdul Hakim Shojoyi, former Takhar police chief Khair Mohammad Timur, Afghan Local Police Commander Azizullah from the Urgun district in Paktika province, Atta Mohammad Noor, the incumbent acting governor of northern Balkh province, Najibullah Kapisa, the National Directorate of Security chief for Takhar, Mir Alam, a former senior commander with the Jamiat party, Asadullah Khalid, the former head of the National Security Directorate, and General Abdul Raziq, the Kandahar provincial police commander.

AHRC chief Lal Gul told Pajhwok Afghan News the HRW recent report about Afghanistan’s civil war criminals was different when compared to the watchdog’s previous reports.

He said there were many others human rights’ violators in Afghanistan and mentioning only the eight persons raised questions.

In its reaction to the report, the Chief Executive Office a day earlier said it had been prepared based on inaccurate investigation methods.

Meanwhile, some Facebook users said many human rights violators existed in Afghanistan and all of them should have been named in the report, not only some of them.

hs/ma

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