Probe urged into alleged transfer of Kam Air staff, not Journalists

KABUL (Pajhwok): Journalists have expressed concern over reports that Kam Air Airline evacuated its 155 employees instead of journalists to a foreign country, asking the authorities in Afghanistan and international community to analyze their documents.

Kam Air Airline, however, rejected the allegation but said journalists said family members of the Kam Air airlines were evacuated using fake journalistic documents for evacuation purpose.

Bloomberg News reported that Kam Air, an Afghan private airline company, transferred at least 155 family members of the company’s leadership to Abu Dhabi.

Based on the report, the flight was intended to evacuate journalists and other qualified persons out of the country, but families of the airline’s leadership were crammed into the half-empty plane at the last moment.

After the fight landed in the United Arab Emirates, the US State department discovered the evacuees were not on the list, according to the report

Officials at Kam Air denied the claims, saying the company was not picking evacuees. The company was only responsible for transferring them, they said.

“We had only two flights–to Abu Dhabi and Tbilisi. They went according to the list. Because many people remain in Afghanistan, they make these claims that Kam Air took some families and relatives,” said Mohammad DawoodSharifi, Kam Air chief executive.

The passengers who were allegedly not on the list are reportedly still in Abu Dhabi and their fate is uncertain.

Documents of evacuees should be examined

Naseer Ahmad Akhtarzai, head of the Afghanistan Civil Societies and Journalists Group, said a huge catastrophe has taken place after regime change in Afghanistan, adding that some countries evacuated unknown persons as journalists and civil society members from Afghanistan.

“International community is in-charge of this catastrophe and they should assure the people of Afghanistan,” he said.

In Kabul and in some other provinces, printing houses provide fake journalistic certificates to people against $150, he claimed.

“Recently there were rumors that Kam Air and AMC TV that sponsored two musical programs have managed to evacuate some individuals in the name of journalists. Kam Air should provide explanation in this regard,” he demanded.

FarkhundaMuhabi, another journalist, said women journalists were facing more problems in Afghanistan at this stage comparing to the past.

She demanded an investigation into alleged transfer of irrelevant persons as journalists.

nh/ma

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