Taliban authorities have condemned two residents of Sangtakht-Bandar district of Daikundi province to pay blood money to the family of a Kuchi man allegedly killed 25 years ago.
Local sources told KabulNow on Monday that Kuchis accused the residents—a man identified as 65-year-old Ali Madad Rezwani and his son Mohammad Ali—of killing one of their members in the district’s Seya Chob village. Rezwani and his son denied the accusation.
However, the father and son were summoned to the Sangtakht-Bandar after being briefly detained in Herat city, where they had been residing, following a complaint lodged by the Kuchis to the Taliban’s district governor of Sangtakht-Bandar.
The Taliban district governor, Wali Mohammad Sadiq issued an order to Rezwani and his son two weeks ago to pay 3,000,000 Afghani (over US$40,000) as blood money to the family of the slain Kuchi man.
Local sources lamented that this amount was “too huge for the poor villagers of Seya Chob to afford.”
A copy of the order sent to KabulNow shows the due date to pay the blood money was set for Monday, September 4.
Residents and elders of Sangtakht-Bandar, who also refuted the allegation that a Kuchi man was killed in their village two decades ago, were left with no choice but to make an appeal to relatives living in foreign countries to send them the amount so they could settle down the case with the Kuchis.
It is unclear if they have been able to collect the financial “reparation” so far.
One resident of Seya Chob told KabulNow that the Taliban dismantled the legal and judicial system by replacing them with their “own way” of dealing with legal cases after seizing power two years ago.
He added that the Taliban district governor convicted Rezwani and his son for killing a Kuchi man “without providing any evidence or proof,” calling the Taliban decision “cruel and unjust.”
Last year, Taliban authorities also demanded over 3,000,000 Afghani and an AK-47 rifle to be given to Kuchis after they accused residents of Sangtakht-Bandar of killing two of their members—a charge the residents denied.
