“A man uniformed black holding a sharp edge dagger and firearm positions behind a captive man who is interrogated in Dari language, is beheaded later”, shown in the video formerly released by Daesh Afghanistan chapter. The deceased confirmed he was a serving soldier of Afghan National Army. The video released shows the terrorist cognizant to Dari language, warns if their demands are not met the rest of the abductees would meet their fate. This clearly depicts escalating graph of insecurity in the country. Some armed men stop passenger vehicles, identify certain people and take them to some unknown place without interruption of any sort.
Earlier, around 31 Hazara passengers were kidnapped after identity check by unknown masked men on Kabul-Kandahar highway. The incident took place in Shah Joy district of southern Zabul province where the armed men drove away 31 passengers to Khak. Since then there has not been any report about the fate and whereabouts of the poor abducted passengers.
Since the abduction, the Afghans in general and family members of victims in particular have been staging protests and rallies around the world, demanding the safe release of those abductees. On the other hand influential persons from all walk of lives; member of civil society and family members have already camped outside presidential palace to exercise their democratic right demanding safe rescue of their countrymen. Formerly, the Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah visited the protest camp of civil society members and families of 31 abducted passengers in Zarnigar Park of Kabul with, pledging the sit-in protesters to put all efforts for the release of hostages.
Since the abduction of these 31 Hazara men, the local community elders along with religious leaders from Jaghury and Rasnah areas have been making concerted efforts for the secure release of the captives through peaceful negotiation that rendered fruitless. Chairman of the Zabul Provincial Council, Attaullah, said that a number of tribal elders from his province had spoken with the parties responsible for the abduction of 31 travelers along the Kabul-Kandahar highway in February, and that the elders have presented the proposed terms of release to the central government in Kabul. According to Attaullah, the kidnappers have demanded the release of 12 prisoners currently detained by the Afghan government in exchange for the 31 hostages. The demand put forth by militants seems unacceptable to government. The Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah called this prisoners swap a wrong and flawed tradition.
Apparently, we owe security apparatus and concerned authorities to look after the entire affairs of the state, whilst facilitating the undertakings of ordinary masses. Nonetheless, the deepening indifference of ruling elite towards the concerns of anguished; murdered and kidnapped citizens worth applause who even dared not to condemn this coward incident by sharing the grievances of affected families. As days passes the fear and apprehension of Hazara deepens who are left awaiting their beloved ones. Elsewhere, in the world every individual counts and are valued; in contrary to our state where dozens don’t matter.
It is the responsibility of a government within a state to ensure peace and security of its citizens. However, the governments that suffer from administrative incapacities fail to guarantee security. And in such states the weaker strata of the society tend to suffer the most. Women, ethnic and religious minorities and the common people as a whole undergo anguish as a result. Afghanistan is also one of the countries where the government has not been able to provide enough security to its people and the common people face different sorts of problems every day.
Hazara constituting a large population of Afghanistan have observed peace and allegiance to the said laws of the land. Despite rendering great sacrifices to the motherland, facing countless bloodshed, never took arms to avenge their killers, instead resorted to peace and tranquility. The Abduction of Hazara passengers indicates the miseries yet unaddressed amidst government prevalent silence and indifference.
Hazaras are often the target of sectarian violence at the hands of extremists in Afghanistan. Hazaras were persecuted during the 1990s when the Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan, and so does it now. During the wars, thousands of Hazaras were killed in Bamyan, Mazar Sharif and Kabul by Taliban. Moreover, they were discriminated worst due to their ethnicity. In similar fashion, Daesh also considers Shias as infidels and the cruelties and killings they have carried out against Shias and certain other sects in Iraq and Syria are not hidden from anyone.
Who is responsible for the incident must be sought out quickly and efforts should be hastened to secure the poor victims. The government officials and authorities claim that efforts are underway and certain teams of tribal elders have been assigned as negotiators who are in dialogue with the culprits and there are hopes that the victims will be released.
Seeking the support of the tribal elders is not a bad idea in this sort of incidents and if pursued with dedicated and sincere efforts there can be certain results. However, it is difficult to expect that the culprits would be ready to free the abducted passengers without having their inmates released. Therefore, government needs to follow cautious measures ensuring unharmed release of all abductees; else’s the militants establishes putting forth their ill-demands works making the poor masses hostages at the gun barrel.
The authorities in Kabul must also ensure that they are fully in picture about every measure that is taken. The National Unity Government must itself pursue the developments in this regard as it is a matter of life and death of more than 31 people. Any negligence in this regard would mean a great and irrecoverable loss. Nonetheless, we can’t undo the perception, the safe and secure release of 31 abductees is a test case for both foreign forces and Afghan National Army.