KABUL (SW): The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has announced to dispatch a fact finding mission to Balkh province following a dramatic set of events leading to the arrest of provincial council member Asif Mohammand at the Mazar-e-Sharif airport.
Head of the mission Gen. Murad Ali Murad, Senior Deputy at the MoI, has said he would be accompanied by representatives from the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and justice departments.
Muneer Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor, has said the PC member was arrested on warrants issued by the prosecutor general’s office and anti-corruption justice center some three months ago. Copies of these documents obtained by Salam Watandar indicate Asif Mohammand was under legal investigation by the AGO.
Meanwhile, the provincial police chief Kamal Sadat has blamed governor Atta Mohammad Noor for harming the security at the airport by arresting the PC member via the forces of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) instead of police. He informed Asif Mohammand remains under the NDS custody in Mazar-e-Sharif city. He confirmed two guards of the PC member died and two policemen got injured in clashes at the airport early in the morning on Tuesday.
Mohammand’s brother Mustafa Mohammand and an another member of the provincial council Ibrahim Kherandesh have charged that Noor’s men have taken the PC member in their custody. Kherandesh added that the armed men associated with the governor stormed the airport at around 02:45 am on Tuesday and shot at the security personnel on duty.
Prior to his arrest, Mohammand levelled serious allegations of corruption and nepotism against Noor. In a video circulating on the social media, the PC member can be seen engaged in a verbal argument with governor Noor. Asif Mohammand told a press conference in Kabul last week that Noor had tasked a man to kill him, but that person got arrested in Kabul two days ago.
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