Lawmakers Call for Stoning of Fellow Parliamentarian

[Neo]

Afghan Lawmakers Call for Stoning of Fellow Parliamentarian
4th April, 2017


Pedram

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
April 3, 2017

ISLAMABAD — Lawmakers in Afghanistan have called for stoning to death of a fellow parliament member for stating the country’s long border with Pakistan is an international boundary.

Afghan commentators and newspaper editorials have also slammed the parliament member for speaking against “the national interest,” with some demanding Abdul Latif Pedram’s ouster from Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of parliament, for committing treason.

“You chant ‘God is Great’ through this microphone and I will stone him to death right here on the floor of this representative house,” a member urged the house speaker while taking part in an evidently furious debate Monday.

The parliamentary proceedings were being televised live, as usual.

“For God’s sake Mr. Speaker, if you don’t take this action you will solely be held responsible,” the angry lawmaker went on to warn Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi.

The punishment to the “spy,” he said, will send a strong message to the people in Pakistan that any “agent” on Afghan soil will meet the same fate for even discussing the status of the Durand Line, the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pedram, head of his Afghanistan National Congress party, told a news conference in Kabul during the weekend that his party recognizes the Durand Line as the official border with Pakistan. He went on to say that most of the problems plaguing bilateral relations stem from Afghanistan’s failure to publicly acknowledge it.

Pedram is an ethnic Tajik, who hails from the northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan, and was a candidate in the October 2004 presidential election. He was present in the house during Monday’s proceedings.

Taking part in the debate, another lawmaker condemned Pedram as ignorant of Afghan “sensitivities.”

“I swear to God that, from today onward, if any will dare indulge in such illegal statements and debates about the Durand Line, the nation would break his jaw,” he said.

Controversial Durand Line

Speaker Ibrahimi, while responding to the demands, reiterated the Durand Line is a national issue and “no individual, certain tribe or a specific group” can decide on its status. He emphasized that the authority to make any decision with regard to the frontier rests only with Afghanistan’s traditional assembly of elders, called the Loya Jirga.

Afghan leaders, mainly ethnic Pashtuns, have from the outset disputed parts of the nearly 2,600-kilometer, largely porous border demarcated in 1893 during the British rule of the Indian subcontinent and named after the then-Foreign Secretary Mortimer Durand.

Pakistani officials dismiss Afghan objections and maintain their country inherited the international border after gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

Islamabad has lately stepped up efforts to fence off the Durand Line and has built new security outposts as well as forts along the border in addition to fortifying five regular crossings, despite protests from Kabul.

Officials in Pakistan defend the border management measures, saying they will help deter terrorist infiltrations in both direction.

Mutual allegations of sponsoring terrorist attacks against each other are at the center of recent tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“Pedram should be questioned inside the parliament as well as in the court of public opinion, because this is a vital matter for the Afghan territory and nation,” wrote the Afghanistan Times newspaper in an editorial. “Statements in favor of recognition to the Durand Line as a permanent border with Pakistan would be an insult to our martyrs. Territorial history and integrity cannot be compromised at any cost,” it added.

http://www.aopnews.com

 

[Neo]

RAW, NDS want to kill me: Afghan MP
By Tahir Khan
Published: April 11, 2017

Afghan MP Abdul Latif Pedram is the head of National Congress Party PHOTO: Facebook

ISLAMABAD: An Afghan lawmaker has claimed that Afghan and Indian intelligence agencies and some “other parties” are out for his blood after he called the Durand Line an internationally recognised border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Abdul Latif Pedram, head of the National Congress Party, told influential Afghan newspaper Arman-e-Milli in an interview that he suspected that Indian intelligence was part of the plans being hatched against him because India wants to serve its own interests in the country in view of the ongoing differences between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pedram, who is an ethnic Tajik and a member of the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of parliament, from the northern Badakhshan province, has been under fire since he made the remarks earlier this month to reporters saying his party recognises the Durand Line as an official border.

Afghan parliamentarian backs Durand Line as border

Some Afghan MPAs have reportedly demanded that he should be stripped of his parliament membership and stoned, while local media has also criticised him.

“Pedram should be questioned inside the parliament as well as in the court of public opinion, because this is a vital matter for the Afghan territory and nation,” the Afghanistan Times wrote in an editorial. “Statements in favour of recognition to the Durand Line as a permanent border with Pakistan would be an insult to our martyrs. Territorial history and integrity cannot be compromised at any cost,” it added.

The MP’s remarks and the subsequent reactions reflect the deep divide within Afghanistan over the approximately 2,500 km Durand Line, which Pakistan calls a “settled and closed chapter”. But Afghan leaders insist its fate will be decided by a Loya Jirga, a council of Afghan elders.

Pedram told Arman-e-Milli that security threats against him have been increasing because of his statements urging the Afghan government to formally accept the Durand Line as a border, and because of that “some parties” plan to eliminate him.

“My statements regarding the crisis around the Durand Line echoes the dark realities of today’s Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan want this crisis to be solved immediately,” the newspaper reported, quoting Pedram.

100-km of Durand Line to be fenced

Pedram said his position on the Durand Line has its supporters and opponents, but he believed around 80 per cent of Afghans want the border to be formalised.

“My latest position is the reason why security alerts are high and my life as well as my colleagues’ lives are in danger,” the Afghan lawmaker said.

He added that he learnt through a credible source that the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence agency, is trying to create files and cases against him, while the National Security Council was also trying to influence him.

“A large plot is in the making and some circles are trying to physically eliminate me,” the Afghan leader claimed. “The conspiracy is not only against me, but also focuses on my supporters in different government organisations.”

Pedram insisted he will not retreat from his position and will work to champion the idea as a plausible solution to Pak-Afghan differences.

 

[sob]

Bad news for Pakistan if cutting across ethnic lines this is the reaction in Afghanistan.
I think it is better to accept the Durand line as a reality and some working mechanism should be evolved for the people on both sides.

 

[Neo]

Bad news for Pakistan if cutting across ethnic lines this is the reaction in Afghanistan.
I think it is better to accept the Durand line as a reality and some working mechanism should be evolved for the people on both sides.

Durand line is dead, the sooner Afghanistan accepts it the better. We have started to fence the border, the international crossings and border posts are better manned and defended from our end, we ask the afghans to do the same as the majority of posts remain unmanned from their end.

Ethnic divide is not being created or fuelled by us, the civil war actually never ended despite two international wars.

 

[dhananjay1]

He belongs to Tajik faction and doesn't want Pashtun factiion to get more powerful. That's why he is so devoted to Durand line.

 

[sob]

Durand line is dead, the sooner Afghanistan accepts it the better. We have started to fence the border, the international crossings and border posts are better manned and defended from our end, we ask the afghans to do the same as the majority of posts remain unmanned from their end.

Ethnic divide is not being created or fuelled by us, the civil war actually never ended despite two international wars.

With the terrain the entire border cannot be fenced and with many tribes straddling the boundary it is going be tough to fence. Also what would the Haqqani faction have to say about this.

 

[I am otm shank]

Afghans need to hold fast on their rightful territory. It's not in their history nor culture to forsake what is rightfully their's.

 

[Neo]

With the terrain the entire border cannot be fenced and with many tribes straddling the boundary it is going be tough to fence. Also what would the Haqqani faction have to say about this.

Indeed, its impossible to fence the entire 2300km border but certain areas such as Nooristan border can be fenced. Mining the rest of the territory and drone surveiliiajce is another option.

FATA is to be fully integrated with KPK and brought under central governance, this will boost the security and PA will have better access to the sensitive crossings.

Durand line is not a hot issue with Haqqani, its more of a problem with Kabul.

 

[I am otm shank]

Imagine if a western nation or india talked about mining it's borders that would lead to killing and maiming muslim women and children refugees like neo so effortlessly does..

 

[pmaitra]

Nothing to see here.

If an Indian MP said the same thing about some of the lines defined by the British where we have border disputes, it is likely he would also get threats.

I hope he gets adequate protection.

 

[sob]

IMHO Pashtuns needs their own Nation. Pashtunistan or maybe greater Afghanistan with Weastern Pakistan.

And how will the landlocked nation with almost zero resources, survive?

 

[Neo]

IMHO Pashtuns needs their own Nation. Pashtunistan or maybe greater Afghanistan with Weastern Pakistan.

They already have, its called Pakistan. More Pashtuns live in here than anywhere else in the world.

 

[pmaitra]

And how will the landlocked nation with almost zero resources, survive?

Good to see you back again.

Coming to resources, I have seen a lot of mining in mountainous regions. This does not have to be a universal truth, but we haven't really done much searching in Afghanistan. Who knows? There might be a lot of resources.

 

[sob]

Thanks PM have been super busy with work.
There have been reports of huge deposits of Zinc, and there were plans for Cement Plants by China, but then that would not be in the area bordering Pakistan.

 

[Neo]

Good to see you back again.

Coming to resources, I have seen a lot of mining in mountainous regions. This does not have to be a universal truth, but we haven't really done much searching in Afghanistan. Who knows? There might be a lot of resources.

Americans have discovered huge reserves of lithium, several other metals and gas worth more than a trillion dollar. I believe China is already negotiating with Kabul to develop mines near Pak border

 

[Tshering22]

Stoning is a big too extreme.

Maybe suspension for the next few parliamentary sessions would be fine.

Although on a lighter note, I wouldn't mind that happening here especially to some traitors in the opposition who have almost visible links to the nefarious elements against our country.

 

[Mikesingh]

The fact is that the Afghans do not recognize the Durand Line. After the founding of Pakistan in 1947, Afghanistan demanded that Pashtuns living on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line be given the right to self-determination. Unsurprisingly, both Britain and Pakistan refused. In response, the Afghan government then began to ignore the Durand Line and instead assert claims over territories that lay between the line and the Indus River.

Pakistan could not even get the Taliban when they ruled Afghanistan (1996 – 2001) to agree to the Durand line. And the new Afghan generation is in no mood to forgive Pakistan for its attempt to inflict obscurantism on their country.