Protestors call for prosecution of Jamal’s killers

ASADABAD (PAN): Hundreds of people took to the streets in the capital of eastern Kunar province on Friday, calling for the arrest of the killers of Logar Governor Arsala Jamal.

A close confidante of President Hamid Karzai, Jamal was killed in a bomb attack at the main mosque in Pul-i-Alam, the capital of the central province, on October 15 — the first day of Eidul Adha.

Initially, local officials said the bomb had been concealed in a microphone but the Afghan spy service the National Directorate of Security later claimed the explosives had been placed in a copy of the holy Quran.

After Juma prayers, hundreds of residents poured onto the streets of, demanding the immediate arrest and prosecution of all those involved in Jamal’s assassination.

Maulvi Farmanullah, an organiser of the peaceful protest, told Pajhwok Afghan News blasts inside mosques were the handiwork of Islam’s enemies. No Muslim could think of perpetrating such heinous crimes, he said.

Another organiser, Shah Mahmood, also called concealing explosives in the Quran an un-Islamic act. He asked the government to thoroughly investigate Jamal’s assassination and boost security around mosques.

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