7 people killed, 10 injured in Afghanistan last week

KABUL (Pajhwok): The UK last week promised efforts to put Afghanistan back on the UN agenda and various sources asked Pakistan to stop forcibly deporting Afghan refugees.

Responding to UNAMA’s statements, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan said some intelligence agencies are out to confuse public minds.

Last week’s key events

UNAMA: IEA systematic efforts to implement vice and virtue law

IEA: Some intelligence agencies out to confuse public minds

Various sources ask Pakistan to stop deporting Afghans

UN: Refugees should not be used for political goals

UK: Trying to put Afghanistan back on UN agenda

UN: Donors should continue vital assistance to Afghanistan

Araqchi: Relations with Afghanistan valuable in many areas

Casualties

Last week, unidentified gunmen shot dead a person in Uruzgan province and a man was killed in Takhar after a verbal dispute, two people were killed and another was injured in a dispute between two families in Farah, a person died after being beaten in a dispute over children in Kabul, and an old landmine explosion in Maidan Wardak killed a child and injured four others.

Local officials say an armed robber was killed in a clash with security forces in Herat, and four people were injured in an explosion in a container of old ammunition belonging to the counter-narcotics department of the police headquarters in Kandahar.

Note: These figures are based on reports reaching Pajhwok Afghan News. Some incients may have gone unreported and sources could have provided incorrect figures.

In the previous week, five people had been killed and another injured in various incidents in Afghanistan.

Before the regime change in August 2021, hundreds of civilians and members of the warring parties would get killed and injured every week.

UNAMA’s concern and IEA response

Last week, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a new report that the Islamic Emirate was making more systematic and sustained efforts to implement the Law on Propagation of Virtue and Forbidding Vice than in any other of its decrees.

“The ruling authorities in Afghanistan are determined to implement their vision of a pure Islamic system throughout the country.”

However, in response to the UNAMA report, Saiful Islam Khyber, spokesman for the Ministry of Vice and Virtue Ministry, said that in the past year the ministry resolved 1,133 cases of forced marriages and handed over their Sharia rights to them in addition to implementing decrees in the field of promoting good, preventing evil, eliminating bad customs and other areas.

He added that a number of intelligence agencies were trying to confuse the public mind to achieve their sinister goals, as in the past.

Efforts to put Afghanistan at top of UN agenda

Last week, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) called on donor countries and institutions around the world to continue their vital assistance to the Afghan people.

The request comes ahead of this week’s Afghanistan Coordination Group meetings in Istanbul, which will bring together representatives from donor countries, international financial institutions and UNAMA.

Similarly, British Chargé d’Affaires in Kabul, Robert Dixon, met with Acting Minister of Refugees Mawlawi Abdul Kabir and said that his country was trying to put Afghanistan back on the UN agenda.

Dixon said a proposal had been prepared at the UN regarding Afghanistan and it will be shared with officials of the Islamic Emirate in the future.

According to him, the proposal includes strengthening relations with Afghanistan, strengthening security and other positive points, and he said that the Britain played an important role in preparing this document.

This comes at a time when the UN World Food Program has expressed concern over the US’s suspension of aid.

Afghan refugees expelled from Pakistan

Pakistani media says police have launched a crackdown on Afghan refugees in Pakistan after the March 31 deadline for them to leave expired, arresting thousands of them in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The deadline for Afghan refugees to leave Pakistan expired on March 31.

Pakistani police have also urged people in the Murree area near Islamabad not to engage in any business with Afghan refugees and not to rent out their homes, shops or hotels.

Last week United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees official Arafat Jamal urged Iran and Pakistan to treat Afghan refugees well.

In addition, experts from the organization, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, have urged Pakistan to stop the forced evictions of Afghan refugees from Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Last week, Afghanistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Administrative Affairs Maulvi Abdul Salam Hanafi said during a visit to Torkham that Pakistan has started forcibly deporting Afghan refugees despite having legal documents to live in Pakistan

The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations has also called on Iran and Pakistan to exercise patience and tolerance towards Afghan refugees, and to respect good neighborliness, Islamic and humanitarian values, and international laws in their treatment of refugees.

The ministry said they expect Pakistan to end the violence and mistreatment against Afghan refugees and that no one should use refugees as a tool for their political goals.

The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations said that last week, nearly 400 Afghans were released from Pakistani prisons and returned to the country.

Afghanistan’s relations with neighboring countries

Last week, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said it was important to prevent Afghanistan from being isolated internationally and added he considered compromise and negotiations with the current authorities of the Islamic Emirate essential.

Mullah Hamdullah Fitrat, Deputy Spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, welcomed the Uzbek President’s remarks and said: “We appreciate and welcome the positive statements of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev regarding Afghanistan and the country’s consistent positive position regarding Afghanistan.”

Uzbek Ambassador to Kabul Aibak Usmanov said the current $1.1 trade volume between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan will increase to $2 billion next year.

The Iranian Foreign Minister also described relations between Afghanistan and Iran as valuable and said that agreements signed between the two countries, especially the agreement on the gradual return of Afghan refugees from Iran, should be monitored.

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