A religious preacher in NDS detention center in Khost has been beaten to death. He was shifted to hospital after 12 days of detention. The Maulvi Abdullah is suffer ing kidney failure and doctors are trying to recover him from the severe injuries caused by brutal torture in detention. The Mullah is a teacher as well as preacher who visit villages to teach Quran at mosques. NDS officials in Kabul said they have no official confirmation.

This incident is being reported just days after a UN report released last week raised serious questions about the intelligence detention centers.

The report, which Interior Ministry denied, says there is a 'systematic torture' in Afghan detention centers.

Though the report doesn't represent accurate picture of the overall situation in detention centers across the country because only 379 prisoners were interviewed for the UN report, but it does show the fact that Interior Ministry and NDS needs to review the fault lines in their system rather than rejecting the report.

It would be a ridiculous to deny such reports with references about Taliban brutality. The Afghan Police and intelligence agencies as responsible security institutions should be accountable and their system transparent and according to the international standards, even in the process of making confessions from an arrested suicide bomber.

The state institutions should in no way compare with or retaliate against Taliban brutality in their systematic process. However, the UN report does not represent the overall situation, as it claims. Torture might be part of the investigation techniques, but it cannot be systematic, otherwise the report lacks enough evidence to prove the sweeping generalization about the entire system in Afghan security institutions.

Though the crime or allegations of the Mullah beaten in Khost is unaware, beating him to death for confession is outrageous. This case must be thoroughly investigated by the NDS officials in Kabul, and those agents responsible for going out of their authority must be punished.

However, it is obvious that NDS would not pick a random Mullah without any reason. Last week a prominent preacher was arrested in Herat. He was propagating for Taliban in mosques encouraging the youth for suicide attacks with piousness sermons provoking people against the Afghan government and foreign troops.

NDS should crackdown against such elements and increase ground intelligence to avoid such propaganda. But extreme torture is not justifiable in the detention centers.