Mohammad Raja: Reporter, Photographer,
Daykondi, Afghanistan
Translated by: M.Rezaie
13 Dec 2021
Taliban, in first after their take over, forced residents of Pato, Gizab, Nava mish and Khedir to leave their homes. While Taliban had made thousands of the households in these districts to leave their lands and homes, did not allow them to take the basic livelihood and food. They only allowed these families to take 50 kilo gram of wheat and a few carpets and dishes. They forced families to leave their homes and lands based on false claims and extra judicial actions.
About three months ago, four hundred families were forcibly displaced from Kandir area of Pato district. Hundreds of other families were also forced to move from Lore Shiveh, Piranjir, Rabat, Voljah, Chapjoy, Biri, Dirmi, Tagabdar, Kharkak, Baghak, Sehvor and Payqol areas of this district and Gizab district. This collective punishment is carried out using state force and state facilities. (Photo 2).
Censorship of Media
Before the Taliban takeover, there were 6 Visual and audio media and one print media registered with the Directorate of Information and Culture operating in Daykondi. These media had 9 female and 19 male employees. But after the Taliban takeover only Radio Nasim and Sadae Qarya (the Village Voice) are operating and other medias have stopped their activities. Among the thirty active journalists who worked in local media, now only four journalists are left who work in two semi-active media (Radio Nasim and Sadae Qarya). None of these four reporters are women. It should be noted that the above two media, one private and one government, are heavily censored. They have publications according to the wishes of the Taliban.
The arrest warrant for the most experienced journalists of this province has been issued by the Taliban for the crime of disclosure, media activities and human rights. Most journalists have left the country. The chief of Radio Aftab, who was fleeing to Iran, was arrested in Herat and imprisoned for five months and subjected to the most severe tortures. Some of them have fled from Daykondi for fear of persecution and arrest and are living in other provinces.
People’s freedom of speech has been denied. After the Taliban came to power, in the areas under their control, the freedom of speech and the freedom of the media were compromised and suppression and censorship were applied. Out of the five audio media in Daykundi province, with the arrival of the Taliban, only two media have remained semi-active, and they have the least activity and programs. For example, Radio Nasim had twelve hours of daily broadcasts before the Taliban came. But with the Taliban coming to power, its broadcasts have been reduced to one hour a day. The Taliban have warned them many times not to have publications against the Taliban and against Islamic standards and to broadcast and publish most of the activities of the Taliban. After that, there is no news of publishing political, entertainment and critical programs. According to some employees of these media, they have collapsed after the Taliban takeover.
Targeted killings
During three months of the Rule of Taliban, there have been different criminal incidents perpetrated by Taliban. The date and details of its victims are mentioned below:
The lives of the people do not matter for Taliban. Ant the are killed under different pretexts. The reason for killing them is never investigated and people have no place to sue. On the other hand, they cannot talk to the media either, because there is a possibility that they will lose another member of their family. For example, we mention a tragic incident that a mother and her son were run over by a Taliban vehicle.
Although the appearance of this case was a traffic incident; But the truth was something else. As a result of this incident, the boy died on the spot and his mother a few hours later in the hospital. The Taliban did not arrest and punish the guilty person until today; Because he was a member of Taliban fighters. They only apologized and paid six bushels of wheat flour (also from the warehouse of the Department of Agriculture) to the victim’s family.
In an incident on 2 November 2021, A person or some persons from the Taliban forces shot at the people from inside the National Security building. People were sitting next to Gul Badam square. As a result of this shooting, the young shopkeeper was injured in the knee and is now disabled. Again, the criminals were not pursued.
On September 2, 2021, in Khedir district of Daykondi province, fourteen members of the security forces of the former government were shot by the Taliban after they surrendered to the them.
On September 1, 2021, a seventeen-year-old girl was killed in Khedir district of this province. The Taliban claimed that it was due to human error; But the victim’s family claims that the murder was intentional. No blood price or compensation was paid to this family. Again, they were not soothed.
On September 14, 2021, in Khedir district, a person named Mohammad Ali Haydari was called to the district center due to a legal dispute. Then he was arrested and tortured, and finally he died under the torture of the Taliban and his body was thrown in a well inside the village. His family did not have the ability to follow up on this matter.
On August 23, 2021, in Nili city, the center of Daykundi province, two members of the former government police forces were identified and shot at night.
On September 5, 2021, In Varas village of Sharistan district, a person named Aashour was assassinated by armed men at night.
On October 10, 2021, Hossain Ali, son of Khoda Rahim, was killed by a Taliban ambush at night in Sadkhaneh area, Bande Qol village, Berlan Band of Sharistan District.
Between 17 -30 October 2021, in Nawe Mish district of this Daykondi, a person named Tahir son of Gholam Hossein was killed by the Taliban after several days of torture and his body was thrown into the sea. After two days, his body was found in Varkhan village, by the sea.
In Sawor village of Pato district, a person named Mohammad Ali son of Mawladad, who was a member of the public uprising forces was killed after he was tortured for two days and nights. The exact date of the murder is not known.
Three members of the public uprising members were died under the Taliban tortures in Gizab district. We could identify the date of their detention and murder.
Between 5 to 13 October, 2021, two people were killed due to clashes with the Taliban and one person was killed under the tortures of Taliban.
Violation of people’s privacy
The people’s privacy is violated easily. Taliban, in the first days of their takeover, grabbed the properties of the employees of the former government. They looted their movable property. They even looted government offices and took them with themselves. Dozens of tons of food stored in the warehouse of the Department of Agriculture, food and non-food items of the Incidents and Emergencies Committee, and Afghan Red Crescent Society warehouse were emptied and sold to some Pashtun businessmen.
For a long time, several directorates, including the directorate of information, culture, urban development, etc., were in the possession of the families of people affiliated with the Taliban, where they had settled with their families, and the administrative branches of these directorates were used to house and stable their cows and sheep, and to keep their chickens and cocks.
Several Taliban administrations in turn collect tithes from the people. The departments of Hajj and Endowment, Department of Agriculture and Municipality are doing this. Each one collects tithe in turn and according to his will.
In the same way, many journalists were prosecuted and issued arrest warrants in the first days of the Taliban arrival in Daykundi.
Many people of Daykundi province have been arrested and tortured for having weapons. Money has been taken from them at gunpoint. Also, the arrest of relatives of senior government employees, security forces, human rights activists and defenders, and journalists by the Taliban administration during the first three months of this group’s domination has been a normal thing. As I said, unfortunately, the victims strongly refrain from revealing the crimes of the Taliban for fear of being tortured and extorted again.
From 16-21 September 2021, The Taliban attacked the house of three residents at night on 15 to 21 of September, 2021, Taliban, creating an atmosphere of terror in 3 civilians’ homes, arrested and taken them to their headquarters on the charge of tampering with the ammunition depot of the special forces of the former government and whipped them to death.
Taliban soldiers on 21 September, 2021. Another civilian was arrested on the charge that his sister’s son was in the national army. They asked him to show the hiding place of his sister’s son and surrender his weapon. When he claimed not to know about his niece, he was whipped and tortured to death overnight.
In November 2021, in another incident, three civilians were arrested from the village of Mish, which belongs to the central district of Daykundi province, on the charge of having weapons of the National Army and they were flogged continuously for six hours. However, they were the ones who in 2015 had only spent twenty-five days in the training center of the National Army; But they had left it half way and returned to their normal life. Taliban tortured and whipped them so much that they agreed to buy weapons with their own money and submit to them. Under torture, they begged Taliban to give us a few days to buy weapons for you; But the Taliban did not give them a chance. They said that we will torture you until we get the gun. One of them was tortured more because his uncle was a human rights defender and media activist. They wanted him to show where his uncle was hiding. Finally, after hours of torture, Taliban took a gun from them. But they also took one hundred thousand Afghanis from the person who did not tell the whereabouts of his uncle.
Enmity with the Persian language
Language bias is at its peak and Dari Farsi language has been left out in government offices and government office signs. Graffitis in Nili city are in Pashto language. Administrative letters are written only in Pashto language. The heads of government offices are all of Pashtun descent and they speak Pashto to the visitors who are all Hazaras and Persian speakers; Therefore, there is no understanding. Pashto-speaking and Pashtun-descended leaders treat visitors with insults and humiliation. This is despite the fact that 99% of the residents of Daykundi province are Hazara and Farsi speaking.
Extortion and blackmail
Taliban has established 6 security districts in the center of Daykondi province. Each security district collects tithe, expenditure for the security district and fuel for winter season. For example, district security 1, collects 35000 afghanis from Shish mahanah vilage per mnth, but security district 18 collects 30000 each month from the people. These cases are slightly different in each district and in each police district.
There is no fair trial. Most of the legal and criminal cases are addressed by heavy fines as a filed court. For example, in a lawsuit worth 400,000 Afghanis, Kariz security district of Nawjovi (located in the center of Daykundi Province) collected 45,000,000 Afghanis as tax from the claimant.
Taliban detained 2 men and 2 women accused of adultery. First, they blackened their faces and then made it public. Finally, on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, they were stoned to death in public in Choni market, center of Gizab district, Daykundi province.
As a result, after the Taliban takeover of Daykondi province, numerous criminal cases have happened in this province; But unfortunately, the victims of these events refrain from disclosing such incidents with the media and reporters seriously. It is because Taliban after torturing and extorting the victims, have warned them not to disclose such issues with the media. If they disclose such incidents with the media and reporters, Taliban will torture them again and then will likely be killed too.
You may Download the English version PDF here.
Add Comment