Mass graves with 1,000 bodies found in Paktika

Mass graves with 1,000 bodies found in Paktika
28.09.2005 Human skulls, bones and worn-out clothes - signifying mass graves - have been found in a dry ditch in Sra Qila (Red Fort) area, 10 kilometers off this Paktika capital city.

Insiders say the Karzai administration wants to probe the mass graves, which are believed to contain the remains of up to 1,000 communist-era soldiers. However, the involvement of a dreaded regional commander, now in the run for a Wolesi Jirga seat, and other influential people in the massacre hampers investigations.

Well-placed sources confided to Pajhwok Afghan News on Tuesday the soldiers were killed and their bodies dumped in the mass graves after they surrendered to mujahideen. Most of the men lowered into the collective graves were personnel of the 9th Brigade that fell in 1989.

Paktika Governor Gulab Mangal, in a chat with Pajhwok Afghan News, confirmed receiving reports from the general public about the mass graves. He disclosed the Interior Ministry, after receiving information from his government, sent a team of investigators to the desert.
Interior Ministry investigators inspecting the site

On September 15, the four-member delegation inspected the site and wrapped up preliminary investigations. A knowledgeable Interior Ministry official, confirming the investigator's visit to area, said: "The mass graves need deep digging with the help of bulldozers and tractors. The task that was delayed because of parliamentary elections will be undertaken soon."

He went on to divulge Paktika intelligence operatives had reported to the ministry the possible existence of six mass graves, where more than 1,000 people had been buried. He also linked the former mujahideen commander to the mass killings and graves.

In private, eyewitnesses and residents endorse the view the commander from Paktika - still wielding a lot of influence and gun power - had masterminded the massacre. But no one, even top government officials, can dare tell the truth about the cold-blooded murder of hundreds.
A view of the ditch where soldiers were buried

A 23-year-old city dweller, who did not want to be named for security reasons, quoted his father as saying hundreds of soldiers had been shot dead and buried in the ditch passing through the vast desert. Locals would search the dead soldiers' pockets and dogs chomp on their flesh, said the young man while narrating the story he heard from his father.

Another resident and former jihadi activist revealed relatives of 35 victims from Sharan - aware of the horrible fate their near and dear ones had met - kept a mum. They fear the commander may eliminate them if they expose his role in the slaughter.

He recalled: "A butcher had been killed for selling meat to communists and a tailor executed for sewing government officials' clothes." The list of such appalling incidents goes on and on. The upshot is that locals cannot summon the courage to speak out against the man.

Familiar with the heart-rending episode, a car driver in Sharan accused jihadi leaders of killing hundreds of soldiers fleeing Orgun. "Four of the soldiers had sought refuge in my house. After some days, I took them to Pul-i-Sardi, where they surrendered to the government. Subsequently, I was jailed for two months on charges of sheltering the communists and thrashed ruthlessly - so much so that I could not stand."

Mah Gul, a 55-year-old woman, hoped her soldier son Naseer Ahmad - captured in 1989 by mujahideen - would come home one day. She referred to a Defence Ministry list of the security personnel seized by mujahideen. Naseer's name too was on the list, but Mah Gul could not find any clue to him despite her visits to different Afghan and Pakistani cities.

Local officials of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission in southeastern provinces declined to provide information on the important issue, but they did acknowledge receiving reports about the mass graves. They plan to dispatch their
Human remains dug out of the mass graves

representatives to the site with a team of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UANAMA).

A Pajhwok reporter, who traveled to the scene, witnessed human remains entombed there. He saw tattered army uniforms and bones of men. Exhuming the bodies 15 years after their burial will need deep excavation of the 19-meter wide ditch, now surrounded by residential houses. The bodies are lying buried under two meters of dirt.

There are conflicting reports about the number of the victims and the circumstances that led to their execution. Some reckon the 500-1000 soldiers were fleeing to Sharan when arrested and executed by mujahideen. Others claim they had fallen in a heavy battle by the holy warriors before their remains were dumped in what was previously a waterway.

Maulvi Arsalan Rahmani, chief representative of the Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami party in 1989, insisted the soldiers had died in fighting. Also a deputy minister in the Taliban government, Rahmani asserted he himself had rescued 17,000 soldiers of 3000-strong Orgun brigade following their surrender. The rest either took refuge in houses in the locality or were killed by mujahideen groups.

A UNAMA official in Kabul said they were aware of the discovery of the mass graves, but the government was trying to hush up the matter because a senior official was involved in the barbarity. He remarked there was no justification for killing enemy combatants who had given up.

But a shopkeeper in Sharan contended some remnants of the communist era were still in the Paktika government and they wanted to soil the image of jihadi leaders by raking up old issues without offering any proof.

Pol-i-Gun, west of Kabul, had witnessed mass murder during the communist era. There are many who witnessed thousands of people killed and buried together. In one harrowing incident, 2,000 people were killed and assigned to one grave.

In 2002, evidence was found of similar graves - holding bodies of hundreds of Taliban fighters - in Shiberghan, west of Mazar-i-Sharif. The mass graves were full of bones and skulls of prisoners captured in the northern city of Kunduz by the Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum's forces.

The writer is Pajhwok Afghan News Director

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