Businessmen are threatening to take their money out of the country if the government cannot provide security to their families and themselves. A 10-year-old son of a factory owner was abducted and killed in Herat.
Businessmen are threatening to take their money out of the country if the government cannot provide security to their families and themselves. A 10-year-old son of a factory owner was abducted and killed in Herat.The family refused to bury the boy, Ali Sina, for days until religious authorities persuaded them on Feb 2.
Ali Sina was the son of the owner of Sina Aluminum Factory. The abductors had demanded a ransom of 65,000 USD$, which the family paid but the boy was killed.
After the body was found Herat’s traders, shopkeepers, and professionals like doctors joined in a demonstration to protest the murder, and demand an investigation, which should be transparent and made public.
Nafisa Nabizada, the child’s mother, was among the protestors. She said her son’s murderers should be sentenced to death.
She said President Hamid Karzai had phoned the family to say the guilty would be strongly punished. The mother said if the promise was not kept, protestors would continue to demonstrate for justice.
Security chief of Herat, Abdul Hamid Hamidi, said six men and three women have been arrested for links in the case. “Some of them have confessed their crime,” he said.
Lax security
Head of Industrialists’ Association of Herat Hamidullah Khadim has criticised the government policy on security for traders and business. He warned of serious repercussions if similar incidents were to happen in the future.
The Herat office of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has issued a statement expressing concern over the worsening security situation in the province. Strict implementation of the laws can serve as a deterrent, the government was told.
Governor of Herat Daud Shah Saba has urged people to be patient. At a press conference in response to the demonstration, he assured them the case would be thoroughly investigated. “The Justice and Judicial Department will soon take a decision,” he promised.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the Afghanistan Industrialiasts’ Association in Kabul called upon the government to provide security to businesses and people. The union warned the government that all factories would shut down if the guilty are not punished in the murder of Ali Sina.
Abdul Jabar Safi, deputy of the association, said all craftsmen of the country shared the grief of the owner of Sina Aluminum Factory. “If the government doesn’t punish the murderers of Ali Sina, all businessmen, investors, traders will call a strike and shut down their activities.
Missing girl
The police are yet to trace a girl who was abducted in Baghlan province on Jan 11. The girl was visiting a village in Nahrin district with her family for a wedding when kidnappers dragged her away from her mother and relatives, after assaulting them. The girl’s family is from Eshkamesh district in Takhar province.
A police officer in Nahrin district said one arrest has been made on a complaint filed by the missing girl’s brother. According to him, heavy snowfall in the area has slowed down the pace of investigations.
Afghan security forces have been able to make breakthroughs in some abduction cases.
On Jan 9, a girl was kidnapped in Khwaja Omari district, Ghazni province. Within days she was recovered and the abductors arrested, said Ahmad Anwari, police chief in Khwaja Omari district. The girl was abducted because of “family problems”, he said. “She had separated two years back from her husband but the divorce had not been finalised,” he explained.
On Dec 23 last year, two locals from Helmand were abducted in Herat city. Police chief Abdul Hamid Hamidi said they began investigations on Jan 20, and made arrests. “The two people were rescued, and handed over to their families,” he added.
Hardened criminals
In November 2012, a four-year-old boy who was abducted from Parwan province was rescued from a village near Bagram, one of the largest US bases in Afghanistan.
The boy’s father said the family was just leaving for a wedding when they realised the boy was missing. “Late evening I got a phone call from the kidnappers,” he said. They demanded a ransom of 16,000 USD.
“I told them for the sake of God be merciful to me. They said you go to God, ask for our money,” he added.
Chief of Kabul’s Crime Investigation Department General Mohammad Zahir said the police laid a trap for the abductors with the help of the family. They were told to collect the ransom money from a location in Shakardara district. “The police were able to arrest three abductors after a short fight. Hamed, the son of the leader of the gang, Abdul Fatah, was seriously injured,” he said.
According to General Zaheer, most abductors have been found to be hardened criminals who have returned to kidnapping after serving jail terms.
He claimed there has been as few as six cases this year. In each one, the police were able to arrest the kidnappers before the ransom money was paid, he said.
In a report published in Killid Weekly last year in August, Deputy Governor of Herat Mohiuddin Noori, Herat deputy governor, said security forces were cracking down on abductors, and as many as hundred arrests had been made. “They were sentenced to prison terms of between 10 and 20 years,” he told Killid.
