KABUL (SW): The Wolesi Jirga (lower house) on Saturday witnessed heated argument over a deal between the local elders and the government in Dand-i-Ghori in northern Baghlan province.
Mohammad Ghulab Mangal, Minister for Tribal and Border Affairs was summoned to the house to answer the quarries of the lawmakers. During the session, remarks by Zaheer Sadat, a Member of the Parliament from Panjshir province irked other members that resulted in chaos.
On his term, instead of directly asking the minister a question, Sadat said: “Those who are defending the Pashtuns that are planting bombs and conducting suicide attacks are Taliban too”. This irked another MPs. Mohammad Naeem Hamidzai and others interrupted Sadat for being racist and anti-Pashtun.
Despite repeated calls by the speaker, the MPs remained charged and asked the speakers either expel Sadat or dismiss the house.
Last week, elders from the Dand-i-Ghori district defended a deal signed to ensure peace and return of the repatriates, a deal seen by some ‘surrendering the place to the Taliban”. On Wednesday, a number of elders who are signatory to the pact for peace in Dand-i-Ghori gathered in Kabul to defend the deal.
Ten tribal elders from 21 villages and the members of the commission have signed the deal. The deal binds all sides that there should be no fighting in the district, no landmines, no search operations prior to the knowledge of the elders and efforts would be make to ensure safe return of the internally displaced families from the area.
Haji Masto Khan, one signatory of the pact told Salam Watandar that this pact saved Dand-i-Ghori from situation like Kunduz. “We have not heard a single shot been fired in Dand-i-Ghori since the deal”, he said.
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