We strongly condemn the brutal attack of security forces and arrest of SPA demonstrators!
- Category: Party Documents
- Written by Solidarity Party of Afghanistan
- Published: Saturday, 04 May 2013
On May 2, 2013, the Solidarity Party of Afghanistan (SPA) staged a protest rally in Kabul to denounce the dark days of April 27, 1978 and April 28, 1992. Although this protest was due to be held on 28th April but the Afghan government refused permission.
We had similar protest last year which provoked Afghan ruling warlords and our party faced many restrictions and pressure from government, parliament and other bodies and they even tried to officially suspend our party.
But this year, the Afghan security forces, having direct order from the presidential palace resorted to force and intimidation to stop this demonstration. With different tactics they tried to terrify the protesters and disperse them. The personnel of National Directorate of Security (NDS), intelligence service of Afghanistan, illegally arrested eight demonstrators, including speaker of the demonstration, and beat them violently. Three of them are still in their custody and no information is available about them. According to the freed ones, the speaker of the party was wildly beaten in front of them along with wicked verbal insults; his face was in blood with critical health condition.
When public was forcibly moved away from the area, many watched the protest from atop of the roofs.
In these recent days, we received many threatening phone calls from lackey of warlords, who were trying to hold back our demonstration by bullying and intimidation. When on Thursday early in the morning, the members and sympathizers of the party gathered in Pamir Cinema Square, central Kabul, they noticed the presence of more than 1000 police force and NDS personnel who already had sieged the area, and public crossing to Maiwand Avenue was banned and all shops in the rout were forcibly closed. The high officials of police and NDS who were present in the area prior to arrival of demonstrators, violently behaving, told to party members that they have order from “top officials” not to allow the rally take place in any case. But when they face the protesters, whose number was increasing every moment, and these childish threats couldn't overcome their determination, the officials announced that will allow the demonstration provided not to carry the crossed placards of “Jihadi leaders and other officials” and no slogans should be chanted. Once again there was a wave of objection from the protesters against the illegal action of police. After an hour of quarrels and brawls, and regular contact of police and intelligence personnel with their headquarters, finally Ayub Salangi, Police Chief of Kabul, personally talked on phone with a party in charge and threatened: “We will allow to have the demonstration if don’t disrespect Jihadi leaders’ portraits, don’t burn or underfoot them, otherwise you will be responsible for your actions.”
A huge army of anti-riot police armed with batons and shield, tear gas guns, water canon vehicles were there to halt the demonstration, it seemed as if SPA were not here for a peaceful and legal gathering but were with a dangerous army of suicide bombers.
Hundreds of police surrounded the demonstrators and formed multi human belt stopping a large number of our sympathizers to join the protest.
Hundreds of police and security personnel surrounded the demonstrators and to limit the demonstrators’ lanes, they formed multi human belts. To make sure no public can hear the slogans, they closed hundreds of meters of the area and not allowing public and vehicles in the routes ending to Maiwand Avenue. Except for NDS staff in private cloths and police personnel, nobody was allowed to walk in the surroundings. Despite the fact, that they even didn’t allow many party sympathizers to join the demonstration, more than one thousand and five hundred people marched till end decisively and passionately and shouted outspoken slogans against the traitor warlords, Taliban and their foreign masters and the US/NATO occupation forces.
Spies of NDS had multi body search of the demonstrators impolitely and then were allowing them inside. Plate cards carrying crossed portraits of government high officials and slogans against them, were seized and moved away in police vehicles.
They moved further by keeping eye on every organizer of the demonstration and at the very starting moments, caught and pulling them to their vehicles to move them away but once they faced the tough reaction and resistance of party members, they let them go but were following each of them till end of the demonstration.
Agents of NDS had multi body search of the demonstrators impolitely and seized any placards that were anti-warlords.
But watching the anti-democracy obstacles and hurdles by police, made the demonstrators to continue with their protest in acute and loud roar and fury. Although they were not allowed finish the demonstration in the planed venue, Chawk Sopahy Gomnam – Nameless Soldier Square, named after martyred soldiers fighting against British Empire, but the demonstration ended up peacefully. At the end, one of the party leading members, condemned the 7th and 8th Saur (27th and 28th April) days, the puppet regime and American and NATO invaders through his emotional speech with outspoken rhetoric. After his speech, when he moved out of the sight of journalists, a bunch of NDS staff attacked him like wolves to move him away but after he was freed by demonstrators, they escaped like kidnappers and they were on ambush to hunt him down later.
Once the crowd scattered, the NDS staff assaulted our activists in everywhere and were following the speaker. They hunted him near Chaman Huzuri Park. When the rest of party members tried to free him out from abduction, the macho guys of NDS started to fire sporadically with their pistols and took him away in a private white vehicle.
They arrested and tortured eight demonstrators in total and after many efforts by party members and sympathizers, five of them were freed in late night of Thursday. But three more are still in custody and no information is available on their whereabouts.
In a country where the criminals, corrupts and lackeys of aliens have high official and all governmental posts and there is impunity for the traitors, the shameless attack of government on a legal and peaceful demonstration of a democratic party, clearly uncovers the false and fraud slogans of “democracy”, “human rights” and “freedom of speech” by a puppet regime. This proves to the most gauche people that in our mafia-headed country, these values are tolerated and respected until these values don’t question and condemns the place of nation’s traitors and murderers, but if a force has the gut to openly cry out the voice and hatred of 99%, they will be instantly confronted by fascism of security forces which are headed and led by war criminals and human rights violators.
While strongly condemning the KHAD-style (KHAD = Afghanistan branch of KGB under Russian puppet regime in 80’s) offence of the government on a legal act, we announce that SPA’s members and activists are not frightened of these pressures, and contrariwise it makes us more resolute to be serious, pursuant and pervasive for our righteous struggle. The continuous attack of slave government, composed of criminals, on our party is a proof that our struggle and battle has been rightly effective against the national traitors and tear the dark heart of nation’s enemies. The unsparing support of our poor and deprived of the country from our gathering and slogans, gives us the energy to steel determination to more hardly punch on decompose body of filthy criminals of 7th and 8th Saur (27th and 28th April), Taliban and their American, Pakistani and Iranian masters. The revolutionary history of many countries has shown that the pressure of governments on freedom-loving and progressive forces always has counter action and has assisted in nourishment of movement to be roaring and overthrow the regimes.
Despite the force used to disperse the protesters, they chanted even bolder slogans against the warlords: Down with Sayyaf, the hyena, Down with blood-sucking Gulbuddin, Down with brutal Dostum, Down with coward Qannoni, Down with wicked Mohaqiq, Down with the treacherous Khalili, Down with murderer Fahim etc.
The murderers in power must have known that SPA is not from the bunch compromising and faint-hearted to leave the ground by their barking. When a party consciously selects the path of struggle against heartless murderers, how it is possible for her to have fear from howling and barking of these shameless traitors?
We ask all democratic-minded, justice-seeker and anti-fundamentalist individuals and forces to raise their voices against the violence and fascism by the hated government of Karzai against SPA, otherwise the culture of arresting and imprisonment will be common and we will witness a modern period of autarchy and brutality of AGSA, KAM and KHAD, the dreaded intelligence agencies of the former repressive regimes. Let’s not allow security forces of the country to be in hand of governing warlords, repressing voice of freedom, democracy and defenders of our unfortunate people.
If you keep silent today, for sure they come after you tomorrow.
The Solidarity Party of Afghanistan
May 4, 2013 - Kabul
Speaker of the protest was ambushed by a number of NDS agents, but members of our party rushed to help so he was released but later they arrested him and by passage of three days we have no news about his whereabouts.
