KABUL (SW) – The Wolesi Jirga (lower house) has vowed to investigate allegations levelled by Sahra Karimi, the female head of Afghan Film, against one of the house’s committee head.
Sahra said in a social media post on Sunday that the head of one of the parliamentary committees has asked her to meet in private if she wanted to raise funds for Afghan Film, the state-run film company.
The matter has sparked heated debate in the social media.
Commenting on this, Syed Mohammad Hassan Sharifi Balkhabi, chairman of the legal affairs committee, told Salam Watandar that he had filed a complaint and called on the judiciary to investigate the allegations made by Sahra Karimi.
According to Balkhabi, the committee held a meeting on Sunday with Sahra Karimi as well as the deputy minister of Urban Planning and officials from the Radio Television Afghanistan over the alleged sale of state-land to the British Embassy. He added that Sahra Karimi became angry in the early minutes and disrespected the committee members.
He added Sahra Karimi raised the lack of budget issue as a reason behind the sale of state-land.
Balkhabi added that the committee wished to assured the Afghan Film and RTA of support in terms of acquiring budget from the government.
Balkhabi said the disrespect towards committee members and the allegations levelled by the Afghan Film’s head are unacceptable, and should be investigated.
We wanted to talk to Sahra Karimi over this, but she said that the matter was resolved since the committee has ‘apologized’ over the matter.
It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Finance sets budget for public entities, including Afghan Film and RTA. If the Afghan Film budget is low, it can apply for an increase in funding through the Ministry of Information and Culture, said Abdullah Darman, a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance. He added details of the budget can only be made public after the final approval of the parliament.
This is the first time a female is heading the Afghan Film. Appointment of Sahra Karimi to this post has received a lot of backlash as well as praises.
ENDS
