Who barred Dostum plane from landing, ask MPs

KABUL or lower house members on Wednesday said not allowing the plane carrying first vice-president Gen. Abdur Rashid Dostum to land was ‘an insult’ to the VP, adding those behind the scenes should be identified.

A day earlier reports said Dostum, who has been in Turkey on medical leave, flew to Afghanistan in a private plane on Tuesday night, but the plane was not allowed to land in Balkh. Some sources said German forces prevented the plane from landing at the airport in Mazar-i-Sharif.

However, the Junbish-i-Milli Islami (JMI) party, led by Dostum,  rejected the reports that the VP had been barred from entering Afghanistan.

A day earlier, NATO’s Resolute Support (RS) mission also confirmed the plane carrying Dostum was not allowed to land in Balkh. But the RS denied a role in turning the plane away.

Mohammad Naim Hamidzai Lalai, a lawmaker from southern Kandahar province, said: “Those behind the issue have insulted the first VP, the president should resolve his problems with Dostum.”

 Ali Akbar Qasemi, a lawmaker from southern Ghazni province, also said it was shameful to call in foreign troops for preventing the vice president from landing in his country.

“We do not know who authorized the foreigners to prevent landing of the VP plane,” he said, asking the lower house’s administrative board to investigate whether foreigners or airport officials were behind the issue.

Nader Shah Baher, who represents Ghor province in the lower house, said, “Afghanistan is moving towards a political crisis, all passengers on this ship are under threat, it is an insult to our people when the plane of first VP is not allowed to land by the government or foreign forces, the government and our foreign friends should understand this issue.”

Mohammad Azim, a lawmaker from northern Baghlan province, called for identification of those who ordered the plane to be barred from landing.

Wolesi Jirga speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi  said: “We all know that Dostum’s case is with the judiciary, so he is not guilty until convicted by the court. It is illegal to create any type of problems for the VP.

He said Gen. Dostum as an Afghan and VP was free to travel to Afghanistan any time.

Ibrahimi asked the government to explain why Dostum was not allowed to enter the country.

Ahmad Eshchi, a former governor of Jawzjan and a senior member of the Junbish party, and his family had accused Dostum of keeping Eshchi in captivity for 16 days and beating and sexually abusing him.

Eshchi told reporters after his release that Dostum had beaten and sexually assaulted him in custody, and he was filmed naked. He said Dostum also ordered 10 of his bodyguards to sexually assault him.

The case has been finalized by the Attorney General Office and sent to court in June, but the court is yet to decide the case.

First lady Rula Ghani during an interview with New York Times in March said that the law was enforced on the first VP and he was in house arrest and did not play a role in performing official works.

President Ashraf Ghani said Dostum was allowed by the AGO to travel to Turkey, a claim rejected by Dostum’s office.

mds/ma

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