TALOQAN (Pajhwok): Menag Mohammad, 60, from the past 33 years look after the graveyard for the victims of an unforgettable bloody incident committed by the former United Socialist Soviet Union (USSR) forces who invaded Afghanistan around 40 years ago.
He has a bittering story of the horrific incident that happened to dozens of passengers of a bus in the Motar Sokhta locality.
Hailing from Takhar province, Menag Mohammad told the 40 years old story when former Soviet Union forces attacked a passenger bus.
He said: “It was one of the summer days of 1363, when the Russians were present in Afghanistan, a 302 type bus in which majority of civilians were traveling, including women and children, was on its way from Talaqan city to Chinzei area of Takhar province when it was suddenly attacked by Russian security forces.”
As a result of this attack he said 72 innocent people were brutally killed and even small infants were found dead attached to their mothers. Every eye welled up watching that brutal scene.
The elderly Menag Mohammad said: “Since then, the location where the bus caught fire has been named Motar-i-Sokhta — burnet car – and majority of the people of the country, especially in the north, are familiar with this name, and when crossing the Takhar-Kundz public road, their eyes fall on the pieces hanging in the parts of the burnt car.”
Mohammad Menag also suffered injuries in his leg and hand in the past and said after some of his compatriots and relatives were killed in this incident, he decided to keep this horrific incident and the brutal killing of innocent people till the last breath of his life a living memory for others.
From the past 33 years he is looking after the shrine of the victims of this incident and said: “By collecting 150,000 afs I was able to fence the surrounding of this area become its watchman, I never felt bored during these years.”
Back bent Mohammad, the pain of that event could still be seen in his eyes, asked the current government not to allow any country to intervene in Afghanistan again, so that people will witness not witness the victimization of its countrymen and women
He spent his days and nights close to the shrine and provides water to passengers said: “I wish not to witness the sound of bomb and explosion in no part of the country and all the people have peaceful life.”
According to the information of local people the incident happened on Takhar-Kunduz road. Seventy-two people were killed in the 302 type bus which was burnet completely.
.Mohammad Nadir, a local resident and another eyewitness of the Motar Sokhta incident, narrated similar story.
He said the bus was on its way to Taloqan City when the tanks of the Soviet military forces lined up on the road, and a number of Mujahideen at that time were upset when they saw the strong presence of the Soviets and tried to hide from their eyes
He said: “Some of these Mujahideen decided to return back this passenger bus in which civilians were also present and move themselves to a safe place. The Mujahideen managed to turn this vehicle back from its original route, when suddenly the eyes of the Soviet forces fell on the Mujahideen and they attacked the bus, including a number of well-known Mujahideen, all of whom were victims of this attack”
He said when Soviet forces opened fire Mujahideen present in the bus also opened fire and the firefight between the two sides started. People present inside the bus were brutally killed.
He said when people arrive they saw all were brutally killed and the faces of some individuals could not recognized. Locals decided to bury them in a collective graveyard.
According to Nadir the security situation has improve now and hoped that there will no fighting, migration in the country anymore.
Experts also termed invasions and attacks on the country devastating and added the invasion of a country negatively impact every segments of life.
International relations expert Dr. Subanullah Subhani told Pajhwok Afghan News that military invasion is considered to be a cultural invasion because during soviet invasion school, universities and religious seminaries were closed and it was a setback for Afghanistan.
He said that this invasion also had an impact on the economy, there was no work, the business environment was not favorable, high prices had reached their peak, people could not even manage their agriculture, the infrastructures were all destroyed, which caused economic poverty among families
He said the only way for the progress of the country was unity and mutual acceptance among different ethnic groups, he emphasized that the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ (IEA), by availing this opportunity should promote unity among people and work for their well-being and progress.
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