KABUL - The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights (AIHRC) on Wednesday said no body reserved the right to free Taliban prisoners who had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Addressing reports here, AIHRC Deputy Head Mohammad Naeem Nazari said the Taliban prisoners cases were in a different legal scenario.
He said nobody could free prisoners who had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity or had violated rights of other individuals.
He said war victims and the people of Afghanistan have the right to decide on the release of Taliban prisoner, adding that laws restricted the president’s authority in this regard.
Abdul Waduod Pedram, head of the Human Rights Watch and Eradication of Violence, said  there was mechanism for the release of Taliban prisoners. “We are worried about the release of Taliban prisoners. In the past, Taliban prisoners who were freed made a beeline to the insurgency,” he said. He asked the government to respond to the nation’s concerns over the release of Taliban prisoners.
Weda Ahmadi, a women rights activist, said that women rights should not be sacrificed during peace talks.
A resolution was also read out at the end of the press conference, which said that a nation-wide ceasefire should be observed simultaneously with intra-Afghan talks and every kind of armed violence should be prevented from happening.
Earlier, President Ashraf Ghani’s administration ordered a gradual release of Taliban fighters held in government-controlled prisons.
The prisoner swap is a key clause of the US-Taliban peace pact, which was signed in Doha on February 29. However, Ghani balked at implementing the clause. (Pajhwok)