Activists want Helmand police chief removed

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): Civil society activists and provincial council members on Friday demanded removal of the police chief for southern Helmand province following yesterday’s car bomb attack.

They said the blast in front of a New Kabul Bank branch in the provincial capital, Lashkargah, killed 35 people and injured 59 more.

Head of civil society coordination office Khudai Noor Khanzada told a press conference here that the government and bank officials concerned should be grilled because it had been decided to give military men their salaries at a specific place.

Another activist, Abdul Haq Zwakman, said incompetent military and civil officials had always been appointed in Helmand by the central government. These officials only worked to serve their own interests, he alleged.

The activist said President Ashraf Ghani should pay special attention to Helmand province in order to prevent the situation here from further deteriorating, otherwise people would raise against the government.

Helmand police spokesman Abdul Salam Afghan rejected the assertions of the civil society activists, saying the activists should support security forces.

He said mostly civilians suffered casualties in yesterday attack which was aimed at widening the gap between the people and the government.

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