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2 August 2009 War crimes evidence disappearing in
northern Afghanistan as perpetrators reportedly try
and clear the bones from mass graves.
Dasht-e-Laili is a broad, desolate expanse of desert
in northern Afghanistan that, at first glance, holds
nothing but sand-devils whipped up by the whistling
wind.
But underneath the arid soil lie the bones of
thousands of victims of Afghanistan' s recent
conflicts, when wave upon wave of prisoners were
dumped in the desert.
Human rights activists say the perpetrators of these
acts are trying to erase the evidence of their crimes
by clearing out the mass graves that still dot the
Laili desert. They want the government to act to
protect the sites, so that those responsible can
eventually be brought to justice.
"Our colleagues in Mazar-e-Sharif have found that
graves have been destroyed and only a small number of
bones are left," said Mohammad Nadir Naderi,
spokesperson for the Afghan Independent human Rights
Commission. "The destruction of the evidence of human
rights violations is a major problem."
He added that the AIHRC has received videotapes that
appear to show armed men digging up bones and other
remains from a mass grave in Jowzjan province, in
northern Afghanistan.
The AIHRC, a government-sponsore d institution, has
been at the forefront of appeals to make war criminals
answer for their actions. It has issued several
reports, including "A Call for Justice" in 2005, which
seek to give voice to the victims of the widespread
savagery that characterised Afghanistan' s chaotic
civil war in the first half of the Nineties, as well
as the subsequent conflict between the Taleban and the
Northern Alliance.
According to Naderi, the AIHRC's efforts to document
war crimes are being undermined by the destruction of
the graves.
Most of the burial sites lie within Jowzjan, south of
the regional capital Shiberghan. The area is dominated
by strongman General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who fought
on several fronts during the war years. His name is
associated with mass killings of Taleban prisoners
committed in late 2001, when forces under his command
were allied with the United States-led Coalition.
However, some of the grave sites date from earlier
massacres committed by other forces.
It is not clear which period the graves in question
date from. Representatives of each of the warring
militia forces accused of committing a particular set
of mass killings now say it was the others that filled
these graves and hence have a motive for concealing
the evidence.
AIHRC officials would not speculate on who was behind
the destruction of the burial sites, merely saying
that it was likely to be those who were afraid of the
outcome of investigations.
Faqir Mohammad Jowzjani, deputy governor of Jowzjan
and a former lieutenant of Dostum, told IWPR that the
bulk of the interments were destroyed in 2003 and
2004, when international human rights organisations
began calling for Afghan war criminals to be brought
to justice.
THOUSANDS OF TALEBAN SLAUGHTERED
Jowzjani was one of Dostum's chief commanders, but he
split from the general after the fall of the Taleban.
He told IWPR that the mass graves date to three main
periods, the first of which was in 1997, when local
commanders who had initially welcomed the Taleban into
Mazar-e-Sharif turned on them and killed them; second,
by the Taleban when they captured Jowzjan and much of
the north in August, 1998; and finally by Dostum in
2001 after the collapse of the Taleban regime.
All three phases were marked by large-scale violence.
Forces controlled by General Abdul Malik and his
allies reportedly slaughtered hundreds of Taleban in
the course of driving them out of the Mazar-e-Sharif
in 1997, and the Taleban exacted brutal revenge on
civilians when they came back a year later.
Finally, Dostum's troops are alleged to have killed
numerous Taleban captives in 2001.
"When General Malik fought the Taleban in the north,
he killed a lot of them," said Jowzjani. "After Malik
fled, the Taleban killed a number of people [in 1998]
and dumped them in Dasht-e-Laili. And after the
collapse of the Taleban regime, when Dostum came back
to the north, he transported between 4,000 and 5,000
Taleban prisoners from Kunduz. Some of them died
inside the containers and they were buried in
Dasht-e-Laili. "
Jowzjani said he did not know how many died in the
first and second massacres, but said that Dostum's
followers buried more than 2,000 captured Taleban in
mass graves.
The Taleban claim the number of dead in 2001 was much
higher. Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told IWPR that
their figures indicate that 3,800 Taleban were killed
after surrendering.
After the Taleban were surrounded in Kunduz, he said,
"Some of them were martyred in American air strikes,
while the rest surrendered to Dostum. That man, that
breaker of promises, he too martyred the mujaheddin."
The killings were brutal, according to Mujahid. "They
were put in closed metal containers with no openings
for air," he said. "Some of them died, and the rest
were taken to Dasht-e Laili and killed there at
night."
Shamsulhaq Naseri, a former Taleban commander in the
north, told IWPR that 8,000 men surrendered to Dostum
in 2001. Naseri was acting as mediator between Dostum
and the Taleban fighters led by Mullah Fazel in Kunduz,
who had been surrounded by Dostum's militia.
"After our mediation, an agreement was signed between
Dostum, the Taleban, and the Americans," he said. "The
Afghan Taleban were supposed to lay down their arms
and go to Kandahar through Faryab province. Foreign
Taleban such as Pakistanis, Chechens, Arabs and al-Qaeda
should be turned over to the UN."
According to Naseri, there were 12,000 men under
Mullah Fazel, but 4,000 were local and were kept in
the Kunduz area. The remaining 8,000 were handed over
to Dostum, who was to take them to Mazar-e-Sharif.
"There were supposed to be 3,000 men guaranteeing
their security, so that they could go to their homes
in the south through Maimana [capital of Faryab
province] and Herat," he added.
The 8,000 were taken to Dostum's base, the Qala-ye
Zaini fortress in Mazar-e-Sharif.
"Once the men arrived at Qala-ye Zaini, their hands
were shackled and they were put in containers and
moved to Shiberghan," said Naseri. "Most of them
suffocated on the way."
Naseri could not give the exact number of Taleban
killed. But officials of the International Committee
of the Red Cross, ICRC, who were charged with
inspecting prisons, said that only 4,600 prisoners
made it as far as Shiberghan.
Ali Ahmad, who used to work for the ICRC in the north,
spent 40 days at the Shiberghan prison.
"When we went to Shiberghan, we saw that the detainees
had not been given food," he told IWPR. "They were
eating the leaves off the trees. Approximately 2,000
were suffering from malnutrition. "
The ICRC began feeding and treating the prisoners, he
added.
The Taleban have long memories, warned Mujahid, and
clearing out the graves was not going to help.
"These criminals cannot kill the thirst for revenge
among those who lost family members," he said.
"Perhaps they think they can escape from the American
human rights organisations, but they will never escape
from the revenge of the victims' families."
AL-QAEDA FIGHTERS BURIED SOUTH OF MAZAR-E-SHARIF
Mass graves are not limited to Jowzjan. Hundreds of
bodies have been found in graves south of
Mazar-e-Sharif, and officials speculate that there are
more to come.
In the summer of 2008, police in Balkh province
arrested a man who discovered a large number of bodies
as he was laying the foundations for a house in the
Shadian desert, south of Mazar-e-Sharif. The man tried
to remove the bodies, but his neighbours reported him
to the police.
Police officials in Balkh did not comment on the
possible identity of the bodies, saying their
investigation was continuing.
The ICRC's Ali Ahmad said there were many mass graves
south of Mazar-e-Sharif, some of them containing 100
or more bodies of Taleban killed in US airstrikes in
2001.
Shamsulhaq Naseri, the Taleban negotiator, said that,
according to his information, most of the men buried
in mass graves south of Mazar were al-Qaeda fighters.
"There were 2,500 al-Qaeda fighters in Takhar
province," he said. "They were not under Mullah Fazel.
When the agreement was made, they left the front line
and scattered everywhere. Mullah Fazel took most of
them with him to Mazar."
The al-Qaeda fighters were not turned over to the UN,
said Naseri, a clear violation of the agreement he had
negotiated. Instead, many were imprisoned in another
fortress in Mazar-e-Sharif, Qala-ye Jangi, where an
uprising claimed the lives of over 500 prisoners in
November, 2001.
"There was a cache of arms in Qala-ye Jangi,"
continued Naseri. "One of the al-Qaeda fighters took a
hand grenade and attacked a local commander, thinking
it was Dostum. Fighting erupted and all of them were
killed."
Ali Ahmad confirmed the account.
"When the fighting stopped, there were bodies in the
houses and streets near Qala-ye Jangi," he said. "We
hired labourers to collect the bodies, load them on to
tractors and take them to the Shadian desert. We also
hired a photographer to take pictures of each person,
so that we could show their families that they were
dead."
According to Ali Ahmad, the municipality dug the
graves, burying as many as 100 bodies in each. He
could not give exact figures, but said that it took
them ten days, using two trucks and one tractor, to
move all of the bodies out to the desert.
"We moved more than 500 bodies from Qala-ye Jangi
alone," he said. "The labourers were stacking the dead
bodies in the trucks like bricks."
GRAVE SITES NEED PROTECTION
Provincial security officials deny that graves have
been cleared or destroyed in Dasht-e Laili, but they
do call for more help and resources to protect the
sites.
General Mohammad Khali Aminzada, Jowzjan's police
chief, told IWPR that no illegal excavation had
occurred around the graves.
"When the media reported that some graves had been
cleared out, we arranged for a delegation, including a
representative of the interior ministry, to go to the
area to inspect the sites," he said. "They determined
that the bodies were still there. We inspected three
sites, and there was no sign that they had been dug
out. Perhaps the wind had cleared the sand from their
bodies."
Aminzada could not comment on sites other than the
three that were inspected, and said police could not
control the whole of Dasht-e-Laili.
"You go and look at how big it is," he said. "Then
look at the limited number of police. Where are we
supposed to go first? If any organisation that
creating an outcry over these old graves gives us
money and people, we can ensure security at these
sites."
Officials of Junbesh-e-Milli- ye Islami, the party
that largely controls Jowzjan and is dominated by
Dostum and his men, deny responsibility both for any
of the killings and the disturbance of grave sites.
These allegations, they claim, are part of a political
campaign against them.
"This is not Junbesh's fault," said Kinja Kargar, the
party's head in Jowzjan. "General Dostum sent the
Taleban prisoners back to their home provinces, and
showed them great hospitality. He provided them with
clothes and shoes. This is just a plot against Junbesh
and General Dostum."
He said the dead now lying in mass graves were killed
by others.
"They [graves] were probably created by those in power
at the time. Perhaps it happened during General
Malik's time, or the Taleban might have done it
themselves," he said.
Kargar also denied that Junbesh had played any role in
the destruction of burial sites.
"Whoever did this is trying to hide evidence of their
crimes," he said. "It was not Junbesh. This is just a
false accusation against us."
The Taleban and General Malik also deny that their
forces committed mass killings, and that they have
been clearing graves.
"We have never done such a thing," said Mujahid, the
Taleban spokesman.
Malik, who now heads the Afghan Freedom Party,
acknowledged that graves existed and had been tampered
with, but tried indirectly to place the blame on
Dostum by saying they dated solely from a period when
he exerted political control.
"The investigation by the international community was
not done blindly," he said. "They were capable of
uncovering the reality and understanding it. The whole
world says that these graves were created after 2001,
[therefore] it was not me – there is no truth to these
personal allegations. The information we have received
from the national and international media, the United
Nations, the international community and human rights
groups is accurate."
AFGHANS WANT JUSTICE
Some analysts believe that the appeals made by some
human rights organisations that war criminals be
brought to justice could have a negative impact.
Lal Gul, a human rights expert in Kabul, told IWPR
that many of those accused of war crimes have now
taken steps to destroy the evidence.
"When the list was announced, it was like a warning
signal for them," he said. "It told them that they may
have to go through the process, but these people are
in power and bringing them to justice is just not
possible."
In the meantime, he said, sites such as the graves in
Dasht-e Laili must be protected.
"When these mass graves are destroyed, people think
that those who committed the crimes are behind the
destruction, " he said. "Therefore, these graves have
to be protected, and those who have destroyed graves
should be asked to explain their actions."
Afghans, meanwhile, just want justice.
Mohammad Amin, a resident of Jowzjan province, did not
lose any family members during the wars. Still, he
said, he wants to see those responsible punished for
their acts.
"Not only those who have killed many people should be
brought to justice; those who killed just one
individual should also be questioned and brought
before a court," he said. "If they are not punished
now, everybody will be able to do whatever they want
because they will think that they won't be held
accountable.
"If justice is not ensured, one of us could also end
up being dumped in a mass grave."
Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR-trained journalist in
Mazar-e-Sharif.
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