Print

Mail

wiki links

Former `mujahidin' rally in Kabul for warlord amnesty

Tens of thousands of former mujahidin, including top government figures, rallied yesterday to show support for a proposed amnesty for Afghans suspected of war crimes and some called for the death of those demanding prosecution of warlords who were involved in a quarter-century of fighting.

About 25,000 people, many holding pictures of leaders of the mujahidin, or holy warriors, flocked to Kabul's National Stadium as thousands of police were deployed throughout the city amid fears of unrest.

"Whoever is against mujahidin is against Islam and they are the enemies of this country," Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, an influential lawmaker and former mujahidin leader, told the rally.

Later, youths marched through the city, chanting "Death to enemies of Afghanistan!" and "Death to America!" They also shouted "Death to Malalai Joya!" -- a female lawmaker who is among the most outspoken critics of Sayyaff and other prominent mujahidin leaders.

There were no reports of violence at the rally.

Yesterday's rally followed a resolution passed by both houses of Afghanistan's parliament calling for an amnesty that would cover the mujahidin leaders who led the anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s and then plunged the country into a civil war in the early 1990s that cost tens of thousands of lives.

International human rights groups and the UN have condemned the proposal.

The rally appeared to be an attempt by the former warlords to pressure President Hamid Karzai into signing the resolution into law.

Karzai on Thursday told reporters he had yet to receive the resolution and would study it and hold consultations with others before issuing a decision based on the Constitution and Islamic law.

Among those who were present at the rally were prominent members of the government and parliament, including Sayyaff, Vice President Karim Khalili, Karzai's senior security adviser, Mohammed Qasim Fahim, an army chief of staff, Abdul Rashid Dostum, Energy Minister Ismail Khan and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.

The New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch has called for officials including Khalili and Dostum to face trial before a special court for alleged war crimes -- although no such tribunal has been organized or appears imminent.

In a report, the human rights group also listed Fahim, Ismail Khan and Rabbani as among the "worst perpetrators."

Others who should be brought to trial include Taliban leader Mullah Omar and fugitive warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, it said.
This story has been viewed 942 times.