Qaisari requests probe into raid on his residence

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: Nizamuddin Qaisari, the former police chief of Faryab’s Qaisar district, in a video message recorded from an unknown location, has said that the Afghan legal and judicial institutions should probe a recent operation at his residence in Mazar-e-Sharif by the Afghan security forces.

The security forces, including army commandos and Afghan helicopters, besieged Qaisari In Mazar-e-Sharif for nearly 20 hours in mid-December in an attempt to arrest him and his “150” men who were “illegally-armed” and were charged with causing “instability” in the city.

Since then, the whereabouts of Qaisari remains unknown.

“I was in the custody of the National Directorate of Security six months ago. Why, at the time, didn’t they ask me for a statement and refer me to the attorney general?” said Qaisari in the video message.

Qaisari fought the security forces for several hours, and managed to escape the scene.

Six of his bodyguards were killed in the operation.

“No security or legal or judicial body, including intelligence agencies, so far has assured us they will bring those involved in the incident to justice,” said Bashir Ahmad Tayyanj, a spokesman for the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan.

This comes as questions also remain about a recent raid on the house of Amer Abdul Sattar, a former mujahideen leader who was killed in an operation by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) earlier in January.

“This team (the probe team) has concluded all its assessments– it has talked to all parties and their investigations have been completed, the report has been sent to the president so that the president can review it,” said Jawed Faisal, spokesman for the Office of National Security Advisor, referring to Amer Sattar’s case.

The ten-member probe team is not ready to provide any details about the investigation.

“Any case that is referred to the Attorney General of Afghanistan will be investigated based on the law in a free and fair manner,” said Jamshid Rasuli, a spokesman for the Attorney General of Afghanistan.

“Establishment of a commission for addressing a big and criminal case has no legal base, because the law has been assigned as a duty to certain institutions,” said legal expert Ali Farhang. (TOLOnews)