By: Sherin Yousfi
Several hours after the deadly incident at Kaaj educational center on Friday, September 30, Jawad Ali, 45, still did not know if his niece was alive or wounded. At 11:00 a.m., after searching several hospitals, he had just arrived at Mohammad Ali Jinnah Hospital in the west of Kabul. He wanted to go inside to find out about Zahra, her niece. The Taliban forces not only did allow him to but beat him with a rifle butt instead.
Javad Ali told Rukhshana Media that the Taliban forces mistreated the families of the victims. “A Taliban force dragged me away from my collar so that I could not go inside. My clothes were torn. He hit me twice with a rifle butt on my back and shoulder, which bruised me with severe pain.
“If your guy is dead, he or she is dead, and if he or she injured,” Mr. Jawad said the Taliban force told him. “The doctors are there, get lost.”
The narrative of the families of the victims shows that instead of responding to the concerns of the families of the victims and comforting those who were grieving, the Taliban responded with slaps and violence. Previously, citizens also had complained about the inhuman behavior of the Taliban forces with the families of the victims of deadly explosive and suicide attacks.
Jawad Ali said that he succeeded to enter the hospital despite facing the Taliban’s mistreatment and violence. “I endured all the mistreatment and violence of the Taliban and entered the hospital. If I arrived late by a few minutes, Zahra would have disappeared. I begged the doctors to see what happened to our wounded. I myself witnessed that most of the martyrs died because they had lost a lot of blood and were not taken care of on time,” he said.
Fatana, Nazanin’s sister, one of the victims of Kaaj, said that she and her father begged the Taliban many times to allow them to enter the hospital. “My father trampled all his pride and begged before the Taliban in the Ali Jinnah Hospital, and the Taliban did not pay any attention to the families of the martyrs and the wounded,” she said. “It is as if we are from another country.”
The families of the victims are complaining about the violent behavior of the Taliban, while some families waited for hours behind the gates of hospitals to find the injured and the dead bodies.
Razia, Fatima’s sister, another victim of the suicide attack on the Kaaj tuition center, told Rukhshana Media in a telephone interview about the violent behavior of the Taliban that she and her mother were verbally and physically abused by the Taliban when they were searching for Fatima in Aliabad hospital.
She said the Taliban called them animals.
“A Talib force, who was in front of the hospital, dragged my mother’s arm by force. My mother was hit to the wall and her forehead was hurt. When I yelled why are you doing that, he pointed his weapon at me and said, “Animal, don’t talk, otherwise I will shoot you”.
In Ali Jinnah Hospital, I fell to the ground twice when a Talib pushed me, my knees were injured and my scarf fell off my head,” she added. “But at that time, I was only thinking about my sister, how to find her.”
Asadullah Ahmadi, a Kaaj student, told Rukhshana Media that he went from hospital to hospital for five hours to find his friend Asadullah Khorram, one of the victims of the Kaaj accident, and was threatened and abused by the Taliban in Mohammad Ali Jinnah Hospital.
“From the modern hospital to the Ali Jinnah hospital, the Taliban stood on the road and in front of the hospitals. They would slap you and beat you to go away. When Taliban forces did not allow us in a hospital, we were going to another hospital in despair, where there is also Taliban and violence. They hit me twice on my back and arm. My wrist is swollen and still hurts. My back was completely bruising and hurt.”
There have been many complaints about the Taliban’s violent treatment of the victims’ families. The violence is not limited only to the families of the victims. Those who came to donate blood or cover the event were also mistreated.
A reporter who does not her identity to be revealed due to security reasons, had gone to Mohammad Ali Jinnah hospital to cover the incident, said apart from the reporters of “National Television”, which is controlled by the Taliban, the Taliban forces did not speak to any other journalists and did not allow free media coverage.
The reporter added that the Taliban arrested him and several other journalists and subjected them to violence. “They caught us and insulted us saying that we will sit you in a circle and throw grenades inside you so that you will die.”
Dozens of protesting women in Kabul also said in an interview with Rukhshana Media that the Taliban violently prevented blood donation to the injured in the Ali Jinnah Hospital and did not allow the citizens to enter the hospital by firing into the air.
One of the blood donors for the wounded, who does not want to be named in the report, said that the Taliban told the women that the hospital does not accept blood from women.
“There were about twenty of us who wanted to donate blood. On the day of the incident, the Taliban, who talk about Islamic Sharia, punched and kicked the girls to get away from the hospital. An old man in front of Talib was crying and begging that it has been three hours that he has not been able to find her daughter. But the Taliban did not allow him to get inside the hospital.”
Another female protester, who also does not want her identity to be revealed, said that a Taliban force slapped her. He broke his cell phone when she wanted to film the violent behavior of the Taliban. “All the girls were surrounded in a corner. The mothers of the victims cried and begged to let them find their children. Even the families who went for the medicine were not allowed to enter again. The behavior of the Taliban was really brutal. Firing into the air, on the other hand, increased the fear of the people.”
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