Increasing crime incidents worry Balkh dwellers

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (Pajhwok): Residents of northern Balkh province say are worried about increasing crime incidents and accuse security organs of their failure to control the situation.

A number of the victims of crime incidents on Saturday approached the Provincial Council for help and claimed security organs did not respond to their cases on time.

A number of tribal elders from Dehdadi district of Balkh visited the Provincial Council in protest and demanded detention of murderers of their people.

They said two members of a family were killed and a third wounded in a dispute over land ownership in Chehelgaz area of the district last week while their killers were at large.

Ahmad Farhad, a member of the victims’ family, who was injured in the dispute, said he fought with his uncle over land ownership.

He said when their land was usurped by his paternal uncle and they could not resist and moved to Paktika province about 15 years ago.

He said he recently returned to his area and when they tried to retake the land, his uncle attacked them.

Farhad said his father and a brother were killed and he was injured in the incident. The murders are still at large and freely move in Mazar-i-Sharif, the provincial capital, while the incident happened a week ago, he added. He asked the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to follow his case.

Ahmad Fahim, another member of the family, also said they were not satisfied with the Balkh police performance.

“After police refused to take action and arrest the killers, we were obliged to visit the Provincial Council and share our complaint with them and senior officials through them,” he said.

Suhaila, 45, who lost her son, was among the visitors. She asked the provincial council for justice. She said her son was killed by thieves one year and a half years ago but she was yet to get justice.

“They killed my son for his money, they called me to take my son’s body from a car’s back,” she added.

Suhaila said the murderers of her son had been arrested but they threatened them with death from the prison. She said her son left behind two children including a three years old and an 18-month old baby.

Meanwhile, Balkh residents said they were worried about the current security situation and accused police of negligence.

Sayed Noorullah, a tribal elder from Balkh, said criminal incidents involving robbers, kidnappers and others were increasing with each passing day. “People live in fear.”

He said people were neither safe in cities nor in rural areas. “What is happening here, we only hear news of murders, robberies and kidnapping only, we do not know what security organs are doing,” he grumbled.

Noorullah said the situation would deteriorate if police did not take action for prevention of such incidents.

The Balkh provincial council also said the ongoing situation in the province was not acceptable.

Deputy provincial council head Sayed Abdullah Maroor told Pajhwok Afghan News that they had received many complaints about insecurity and criminal incidents.

He assured of following the incident in Dehdadi district and sharing it with organs concerned for investigation.

He asked security organs to take action for prevention of criminal activities. Balkh people could no longer tolerate oppression and injustice, he added.

Balkh police say they have started practical steps for prevention of criminal incidents.

Adil Shah Adil, provincial police chief, said that victims from Dehdadi district should refer to police instead of the provincial council.

“Such victims should refer to police headquarters, they can share their problems with us so we take action,” he said. He said police detained 22 people in connection with different crimes during last week.

He acknowledged complaints about crimes in Mazar-i-Sharif city have increased but assured that police had started action for controlling the situation.

mds/ma