Call to put war criminals on trial

KHOST CITY (PAN group in southeastern Khost province on Thursday asked President Hamid Karzai to try war criminals and eradicate corruption from government institutions.

Addressing tribal elders from Khost, Paktia and Paktika, the group leader said they were seeking trials for the war criminals who had killed civilians over past three decades.

Shah Mahmood Popal said: “These are the people who always played with people’s lives, and they still want to misuse their government positions to continue with their crimes.”

If the individuals involved in civilian massacres were not sacked from government jobs, the current crisis in the country would prolong, he warned.

Because of the presence of war criminals in the government, administrative corruption had reached new heights, Popal remarked, without identifying any official.

A tribal elder from Musakhel district said residents of Khost, Paktia and Paktika had always supported the government but they were being ignored.

With insecurity, poverty and illiteracy increasing in the provinces, funds from the international community were not being spent judiciously, he alleged.

frm/mud