KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Local sources in northeastern Panjshir province report that Taliban intelligence agents have detained a religious scholar and his son in Anaba district.
The sources identified the religious scholar as Mawlawi Sufi Aziz, who also serves as the preacher at Qalacha Feraj Mosque in Anaba district. He was detained along with his son by Taliban agents on Sunday, June 23.
The Taliban local authorities have not yet commented on the matter. However, the local sources claimed that the arrest was due to a violation of Taliban orders regarding Eid celebrations. This reportedly violated Taliban orders, which declared Monday as the first day of Eid al-Adha, while the religious scholar and some residents of Panjshir province celebrated Eid a day earlier, on Sunday.
The incident is part of a series of crackdowns by the Taliban on residents of Panjshir province. Since their return to power, the Taliban have detained, tortured, and killed dozens of residents for various charges, often accusing them of collaborating with armed anti-Taliban groups or possessing weapons.
Panjshir province, a small province north of Kabul, has been the main stronghold for two armed anti-Taliban groups, the National Resistance Front (NRF) and the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF). As a result, it has faced some of the harshest collective punishment from the Taliban in past years.
Rights groups, activists, and groups opposing the Taliban say that the regime’s suppressive behavior toward residents of Panjshir province amounts to war crimes.
In a report titled “Your Sons Are in The Mountains: The Collective Punishment of Civilians in Panjshir by the Taliban,” released in mid-2023, Amnesty International said that the Taliban have committed the war crime of collective punishment against civilians in Panjshir province.
“While many of the acts taken by Taliban forces individually constitute war crimes, the entirety of those acts – plus the additional arbitrary detentions and restrictions on the civilian population – also constitute the war crime of collective punishment,” the international rights group said.
Agnès Callamard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, was quoted in the report saying, “In Panjshir, the Taliban’s cruel tactic of targeting civilians due to suspicion of their affiliation with the NRF is causing widespread misery and fear. Thousands of people are being swept up in the Taliban’s continued oppression, which is clearly intended to intimidate and punish.”
The Taliban’s deliberate targeting of civilians in Panjshir must stop immediately,” she emphasized.
