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Journalists, activists slam evacuees for faking their professions
The Afghanistan Civil Society And Journalist Group has lashed out at Afghans who have tried to evacuate under the guise of being journalists and civil society activists.
The group’s officials say that although most journalists have chosen to stay in Afghanistan, the actions by civilians pretending to be journalists and activists is an insult to the media and to media workers.
Journalists in turn have also spoken out against foreign countries for not vetting applicants properly, which has enabled scores of people to leave the country posing as journalists.
While all Afghans have the right to travel abroad, thousands of people reportedly produced fake documents that got them safe passage to foreign countries.
Civil society groups and journalists see the move as a blatant insult and say a distinction must be made between real journalists and fake journalists, as many journalists want to stay in their country and continue working.
“Interestingly, out of thirty-four million people, nine million have introduced themselves as journalists, which is an obvious insult to journalists, and journalists are the voice of the people, and journalists value everyone, and the identities were not checked during evacuation.
“It was a tragedy and the responsibility lies with the world,” said Nasir Ahmad Akhtarzai, head of Afghanistan Civil Society And Journalist Group.
“The international community has evacuated journalists and civil activists from Afghanistan, and the Islamic Emirate must prosecute those involved in forging journalists documents,” said Frozan Khalilyar, a female activist.
The Afghanistan Civil Society And Journalist Group, meanwhile, insists that people have forged press cards and media documents in exchange for money.
At the same time, a number of journalists said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan should provide the necessary ground for media activities to continue.
“With the support of the Islamic Emirate, the media coverage space should not be limited, because most journalists, especially women, have resigned, most journalists are present in Afghanistan and others have left the country in the name of journalists,” said Farkhunda Mohibi, a journalist.
“The system must have a clear strategy for freedom of expression and journalistic activities and partner with the media, because there is a great concern that many people have abused the name of the journalist and gone abroad,” said Sarajuddin Patan, a journalist.
However, these civil activists and journalists emphasize that this concern has no political aspect and the main purpose is to identify real and fake journalists; and they called on the international community to assess documents of those who have been evacuated to foreign countries claiming to be journalists.
This comes after Bloomberg News reported that Kam Air, a private Afghan airline, evacuated at least 155 relatives of Kam Air executives to Abu Dhabi on a flight meant for journalists and activists.
According to the report, relatives of the airline’s leadership were crammed into the half-empty plane at the last moment.
After the plane landed in the United Arab Emirates, the US State Department discovered the evacuees were not on the list, according to the report.
Officials at Kam Air denied the claims, saying the company was not picking evacuees. The company was only responsible for transferring them, they said.
“We had only two flights–to Abu Dhabi and Tbilisi. They went according to the list. Because many people remain in Afghanistan, they make these claims that Kam Air took some families and relatives,” said Mohammad Dawood Sharifi, Kam Air chief executive.
The passengers who were allegedly not on the list are reportedly still in Abu Dhabi and their fate is uncertain.
In a meeting with the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, the political deputy of the Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate said that the government has fulfilled all the conditions and it should be recognized.
Mawlawi Abdul Kabir also said that the Islamic Emirate wants active engagement with the international community, but the United Nations should lift sanctions on the Islamic Emirate and its officials.
According to him, Daesh is a global threat, but the Islamic Emirate has rooted out the group in Afghanistan.
The political deputy of the Prime Minister also emphasized that the Islamic Emirate believes in dialogue and also believes in an inclusive system and wants appointments to be made based on expertise.
On the other hand, the special representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Afghanistan said in the meeting that the UN will continue to deliver aid to the country, according to a statement released by IEA.
Roza Otunbayeva emphasized on solving Afghanistan’s problems through dialogue, and said that the United Nations will work in this field.
Khairullah Khairkhah, Minister of Information and Culture, Anas Haqqani, senior member of the Islamic Emirate, and Markus Potzel, UNAMA’s political deputy, were also present in the meeting.
The Islamic Emirate’s foreign ministry officials in Nimruz province said that 20 Afghan prisoners, including students, scholars and ordinary citizens were released from Iran’s Zahedan province.
The Directorate of Information and Culture in western Nimruz province in an announcement said that after being released, the detainees were handed over to the IEA officials in Zaranj the provincial capital of Nimruz province.
According to local officials, these individuals were incarcerated due to failing to provide legal stay documents and visas and were released following the efforts of the Afghan consulate in Zahedan.
Mawlavi Sediqullah Nasrat, the head of the refugee and repatriation center in Nimruz province stated that returnees have been referred to International Organization for Migration (IOM) to receive the necessary help.
In addition, it is reported that hundreds of Afghan inmates have been released from prisons in Pakistan and Iran and returned to Afghanistan over the past month.
On Thursday (March 30) a delegation from the Ministry of Refugee and Repatriation of Afghanistan met with the representatives of Afghan refugees in Sistan and Baluchistan and Qom provinces and vowed to address refugees’ problems and find solutions respectively.
Over the past nine months, more than 2045 Afghan refugees returned to the country through the Islam Qala crossing point, according to Afghan border officials.
The United Nations Drug Control Programme and the Centre for International Crime Prevention, (UNODC) say it will support the rehabilitation program of drug addicts in Afghanistan, by covering 24 addicts’ treatment centers, state-run Bakhtar agency reported.
The UNODC will provide food, heating equipment, health materials, and medicine for these centers.
Currently, 3.5 million, which is about 10% of the total population of Afghanistan, are drug addicts, according to UNODC.
The UNODC will support these centers for at least six months.
The UNODC Office in Afghanistan, sharing reports says that the amount of land under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2001 was about 8 thousand hectares, but after the US attack on Afghanistan, the upward trend of drug production in this country not only did not stop, but it gained speed and in 2017, the land under poppy cultivation increased to 224 thousand hectares.
With the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan, poppy cultivation has been banned in this country, and those who disobey this order will be punished.
The Islamic Emirate put an end to the gathering of thousands of addicts from around Kabul mainly Pul-Sokhta, which for many years was the solitary life of addicts and the hot market for buying and dealing drugs in the capital, thousands of addicts were gathered from Kabul and other cities and sent to clinics.
In recent days, the security forces have stabilized poppy cultivation fields in different parts of the country, and thousands of acres of land where poppy was cultivated have been destroyed so far.
The Islamic Emirate is committed to eradicating addiction in the country and ending poppy cultivation, and it follows this commitment seriously.
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