Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 12 March 2020
Afghans set to release 1,500 Taliban; Opposition blames gov't for

US wants less violence New Delhi rioting that killed 52

In this March 2, 2020 file photo, India's opposition Congress
party workers burn an effigy of Indian Home Minister Amit
Shah as they protest against the previous week's deadly
communal riots in New Delhi, India.
Associated Press
By ASHOK SHARMA
Associated Press
NEW DELHI (AP) — India's powerful lower house of
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, center, opens his coat after a few rockets are fired during his Parliament on Wednesday debated the worst Hindu-
speech after being sworn, at his inauguration ceremony at the presidential palace in Kabul,
Afghanistan, Monday, March 9, 2020. Muslim violence in decades in the Indian capital, with
Associated Press an angry opposition demanding a judicial probe and
the resignation of the home minister for the police's
By RAHIM FAIEZ and metrically identified, will “In such a crucial time there failure to prevent the deaths of more than 50 people.
TAMEEM AKHGAR also have to give a written has to be an agreement. Opposition Congress party lawmakers walked out
Associated Press guarantee that they will We want an independent, after Home Minister Amit Shah praised the police for
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) not return to the battlefield. united and self-sustained ending the rioting in northeastern areas of the capi-
— After a series of delays, The remaining 3,500 prison- Afghanistan,” he said. tal within 36 hours and preventing it from spreading
Afghan President Ashraf ers will be released after “Not an Afghanistan in across New Delhi.
Ghani issued a decree ear- intra-Afghan negotiations which a part of it is con- The violence coincided with a state visit by U.S. Presi-
ly Wednesday promising to begin and 500 will be re- trolled by the Taliban, a dent Donald Trump on Feb. 24-25. Armed mobs of
release 1,500 Taliban pris- leased every two weeks part of it would be con- Muslims and Hindus threw rocks, exchanged gunfire
oners as a goodwill gesture providing the Taliban re- trolled by Ghani’s govern- and burned hundreds of vehicles, homes and busi-
to get intra-Afghan nego- duce violence on the bat- ment and the other part nesses.
tiations started. tlefield, Ghani’s decree would be controlled by Shah blamed inflammatory speeches by the Con-
A recent peace deal said. Abdullah’s government.” gress party and some Muslim leaders for triggering
signed between the Unit- However, even if the Tal- “The reason for our negoti- the rioting. He said 52 people were killed on Feb. 24
ed States and the Taliban iban agree to start negoti- ations for more than a year and 25 and 526 were injured. He declined to say how
called for the release of up ations, Kabul’s political tur- with the Taliban is that we many were Hindus or Muslims.
to 5,000 prisoners ahead of moil and relentless bicker- want a peace to come to Shah said 300 people came from neighboring Uttar
the much sought-after ne- ing between Ghani and his Afghanistan so there is no Pradesh state to join the rioting. More than 2,600 peo-
gotiations. main rival, Abdullah Abdul- need for American forces ple have been arrested or detained and an investi-
There was no official re- lah — who has also sworn and if Afghans don’t want gation is underway, he said.
sponse from the Taliban, himself in as Afghanistan’s the presence of Ameri- He didn't say who allegedly brought the 300 people
but The Associated Press president — have left Ka- can forces in Afghanistan, to New Delhi.
saw a letter that Mullah bul struggling to come up the U.S. could withdraw,” Asauddin Owaisi, chief of the opposition All India
Nooruddin Turabi, head with a united negotiating Khalilzad said. Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party, accused Hindu
of the Taliban’s Prisoners team. Ghani’s prisoner decree nationalists of spreading hatred of minority Muslims.
Commission, sent to pris- Washington’s peace en- came as the U.S. State De- The clashes followed an opposition protest against a
oners, their families and voy Zalmay Khalilzad, in partment issued a state- new citizenship law that fast-tracks naturalization for
Taliban leaders. The letter an interview with Afghani- ment saying that the level foreign-born religious minorities of all major faiths in
promised there would be stan’s private TOLO TV of violence is “unaccept- South Asia except Islam.
no intra-Afghan talks un- on Wednesday, struck a able,” and that while the Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, a Congress party leader,
til all the prisoners are re- hopeful note that negotia- Taliban have stopped at- accused the police of ignoring hundreds of distress
leased. tions would be able to start tacks against the U.S.-led calls from people who were under attack and failing
The Pashto-language let- soon. coalition forces and in Af- to protect them.
ter was sent last weekend. “What is important for its ghan cities, the violence "In light of the scale of violence and consequent loss
It says the Taliban would start is the introduction of in the countryside remains of lives and property, we strongly demand the resig-
verify that each prisoner re- an inclusive Afghan nego- too high. nation of the home minister," he said.
leased is among those on tiating team,” he said. The statement also said Af- He also demanded a judicial probe into the failure
the list given to an Ameri- Khalilzad is struggling to ghanistan’s “presidential of the police to protect people and the prosecution
can delegation. get Afghanistan’s fractious electoral crisis” — an ap- of some governing Bharatiya Janata Party leaders
However, Ghani’s decree leaders to unite. Abdullah parent reference to the two for provocative speeches against the Muslim com-
went on to say that the has rejected an offer to be inaugurations and political munity.
first round of 1,500 prison- the head of a high peace chaos — has delayed the Meenakshi Lekhi, an BJP lawmaker, accused the Pop-
ers will be selected based council, he said, and Khalil- establishment of a national ular Front of India, a militant Islamic organization, and
on age, health and the zad gave no indication negotiating team and the elements of the Islamic State group of organizing the
length of their sentences al- when the two sides might start of intra-Afghan talks, violence during Trump's visit to disgrace Hindu nation-
ready served. The released be able to find a compro- which were to begin Tues- alist Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.q
prisoners, who will be bio- mise. day in Oslo, Norway.q