At around 8:26 am on Wednesday the 31st of May, 2017, a huge blast rocked Kabul city to its core. The blast ripped not only the Afghan capital’s diplomatic enclave claiming more than 150 lives and injuring hundreds more, but also shook up the country.
The explosion was so horrifying that no terrorist group dared to claim responsibility. It was one of the incidents in Afghanistan’s Inter-Intelligence Services which was out rightly rejected by the group.
The survivors of the blast along people and government were coping. In Afghanistan, Fridays are off so the civil society had only one day to organize a peaceful protest against the heinous terror act demanding security from the government. The short time frame made the civil society not realizing proper demands and coordination of protest, not learning from their previous peaceful protests. One such group announced a march from Dar-ul-Aman area of Kabul towards the scene of Wednesday’s blast while other civil society activists announced their rendezvous at the Zanbaq Square, the place where the blast had taken place and march towards Arg (the Presidential Palace) with slogans as “Az Marg ta Arg” (From death to Palace).
On Friday the unprepared protesters and ill-equipped police met. The peaceful protest started on a wrong foot. Soon the police and protesters clashed as one government official claimed that a group who wanted to enter the Arg and demanded the resignation of President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the security bosses over the inability to provide security. The security forces shot dead one “Salem Ezeday”, a youth leading the protesters who happened to be the son of Deputy Speaker of the Mishrano Jirga (Upper House). Along with Salem Ezedyar 5 more were killed and dozens were injured and apprehended by the police. The police also suffered injuries.
An angled camera of a media news agency capturing a corner of a police commander justifying the killings as “dishonoring” the President. There is no law in Afghanistan to criminalize ‘discriminating and dishonoring’ heads of the state. Things escalated further when the civilian killings were declared as unjust and autocratic by media and civil society activists.
On Saturday during the funeral of Salem Ezedyar, a high-profile funeral 3 suicide bombers detonated themselves right when the “Allah Akbar” was uttered by the Imam to the already shocked nation.
Speculations started that the Wednesday’s blast was a targeted rocket or missile. Well-known figures took turns in the prime time T.V shows to justify their theories. One such person, Baqi Samandar, a civil society activist, had managed to bring pieces of scraps scavenged from the scene of the blast to a talk show claiming that there was no septic truck which detonated on the 31st May. Rather he concluded with his overnight ballistic expertise that it is bigger than what commoner might think blaming the government in direct involvement with the terrorists. Another activist and political T.V host, Malik Sitez, posted suggestions to the President on his official Facebook page. One of his suggestions was “to announce emergency state” invoking the Constitution. CC T.V footages obtained by local media outlets showed the scene of blast where a septic truck exploded on Wednesday morning, but was debunked by social media users and political analysts as fabricated and not capable of creating such a huge impact.
The protesters demanded justice and resignation of heads of security, President, CEO and Security Advisor, Hanif Atmar while camping outside the Arg. The tents of the protesters further expanded as the protesters tried to understand their demands and the situation.
The Kabul Garrison Command issued a statement on Sunday early morning suggesting to the protesters to avoid huge gatherings and protests as imminent threats have been reported. The efforts of the police were futile to shun peaceful protests by limiting their activism on mere suspicion of security threats. The general public was and are confused on the events that took place on that fateful week along with experts, activists and the world.
The protesters kept changing their demands along with the developing politics. Some other opportunist joined the choir of the resignation of the heads of the country and demanding immediate elections without realizing the fragile state of security of the country. One such group’s leader was the recently terminated advisor of good governance to the President, Ahmad Zia Massoud. The long-term federal state advocate and a member of the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House), Abdul Latif Pidram demanded the resignation of every possible government head in a house session.
On the setbacks of political rivalry and allegations against Hanif Atmar much confusion formed as the police showed brutal force and civil society demanded impractical demands. President Ghani fired the head of Kabul Garrison and Kabul Chief of Police to shut the protesters. Nothing is yet clear what other political deals were made. After almost three weeks of protests in an Iftar dinner organized the Presidential Palace to host civil society activists and protesters. President Ghani promised to remove security blockades from public roads and streets of Kabul. Now, this can backfire anytime soon when a terrorist attack claims more lives than usual in the aftermath of no security walls as government and non-government elites will claim imminent danger of having no security impediments. Kabul will see a surge of security blockades if the government does not step up to its A game in providing security to the public.
Afghanistan saw one of the deadliest months in 15 years. In the wake of recent events, the Afghans had a great chance to fully take charge in improving government only if they had put aside conspiracy theories and opportunism.
Firstly, the protesters could have demanded civilian policing to tackle future protest incidents. The idea of civilian police did not cross at any point of boiling atrocities by the police and government. Millions of international aid just went down the drain as the police showed its utmost weakness against providing security and containing a protest. Secondly, no one suggested gun control measures in major cities of the country to avoid future civilian unrest. There is a strong possibility that “Salem Ezidyar” was armed on the day of Friday’s protest. He was shot dead on precautionary measures or intimidation of the police, but neither the police have proper laws on intimidation nor does the government provide details of an incident. Thirdly, the political analysts, civil society, and media along with opportunist elites of the country inclined strongly towards conspiracy theories rather than gathering facts. They all failed equally in the portrayal of unbiased facts relying heavily on unconfirmed and undocumented issues that did not help the recent efforts of the people in making strong the budding democracy of a war-weary country.
View expressed in this article are of the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Pajhwok’s editorial policy.
