‘Dostum-affiliated gunmen kidnap tribal elder’

SHIBERGHAN (Pajhwok): Eng. Ahmad, a tribal elder and the Afghanistan Working Group member, has been kidnapped by gunmen affiliated to 1st vice-president Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, local officials and the elder’s family alleged on Saturday.

Gen. Dostum had a verbal clash with his father on Friday night at the Buzkashi ground in Shiberghan, the provincial capital, and after that Dostum’s bodyguards came and took with them his father, Ahmad’s eldest son Eng. Batoor said.    

Batoor expressed concern over his father’s abduction by Dostum’s gunmen, saying, “I don’t know where they have taken my father, there has been no clue about him.” 

Babar Eshchi, a provincial council member, another son of Eng. Ahmad, said there had long been political differences between his father and Dostum time and Friday’s incident was a sign of their rift. “Since my father has been kidnapped by Dostum’s men, his mobile phone is unreachable.”

Eng. Abdul Rahman Mahmodi, deputy governor of Jawzjan, and Col. Abdul Hafeez Khashi, deputy provincial police chief, said they were unaware about the incident and no complaint had been registered.

Eng. Ahmad, a former active member of the Junbish-i-Milli Afghanistan party, had served on many key posts before Taliban’s invasion of the north. As Taliban regime collapsed, Ahmad kept his distance from politics.  

This reporter tried to seek comments from Bashir Ahmad Tayanaj, Dostum’s spokesman, but repeated calls to him went unanswered.

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