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KABUL (SW) – An Iranian diplomatic mission on Tuesday reached Kabul to further probe the drowning of dozens of Afghan migrants.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohsen Baharvand, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for international and legal affairs, led the mission to call upon Afghan foreign minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Afghan side underlined that the purpose of joint investigation into the incident was to obtain facts, reach out to the perpetrators and take measures to prevent such unfortunate incidents in the future, which could affect the good relations between the two friendly and neighboring countries.
Earlier this month, Foreign Ministry spokesman Gran Hewad said in a video message that the Afghan border commissioners had shared documents and other evidence with the Iranian side, but Tehran did not accept the documents. According to him, the Afghan commissioners have handed over the investigation to the diplomatic authorities on the basis of a border agreement between the two countries.
Hewad said Iran has also appointed a diplomatic mission to investigate the incident and to work with the Afghan delegation.
Abdul Sattar Hosseini, a member of the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) and a member of the commission investigating the incident of drowning Afghan migrants, told Salam Watandar they had obtained the necessary evidence, but that the Iranian delegation was reluctant to talk about it.
Hosseini said their investigations show that 39 Afghan job seekers have been thrown into the Harirod River by Iranian border guards "cruelly" after being tortured, fourteen of whom have been rescued.
Abdul Hamid Tahmasi, head of the Afghan Investigative Committee, said last week that the bodies of 11 Afghan nationals and four smugglers had disappeared. He also said that 12 bodies had been found in the Harirod River.
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