Taliban authorities have detained 17 residents of Ghazni’s Nahur district over a Kuchi dispute.
Sources say that these residents were arrested on July 19 at the request of a Kuchi man named Niazi, who claims 220 of his sheep went missing in the border area between Nahur and Ajiristan district in 2014. Niazi also claims that two Kuchi shepherds were killed during that time.
Niazi has filed a complaint to the Taliban authorities demanding the locals pay for his missing sheep.
Sources added that the Taliban have beaten and tortured the 17 locals in their detention center. Two of them were released lately, including an individual who was suffering from a health problem.
Those arrested hail from Nahur’s Joshan, Sabz Nala, and Wagh villages.
“In the early days of the Taliban takeover, the Kuchi man blamed certain individuals for his missing flock,” one source told KabulNow on condition of anonymity. “Today, he has put the blame on residents of several villages.”
This source has accused Niazi of using extortion to obtain the payout from the locals. Although the amount for payout is unclear, the source predicted that up to 40 million Afghani could be claimed from the residents of Nahur.
The source has also accused the Taliban authorities in the district of siding with the Kuchi man in this dispute despite voicing their concerns.
“Local elders and residents of Nahur have met with Taliban authorities submitting complaints over the disputes,” the source said. “The Taliban authorities have either refused their complaints or told them that they were unaware of such disputes.”
This has resulted in a climate of fear among residents of Nahur to further their demands for justice, mostly risking arrest or torture by Taliban authorities.
