Just like other years, the summer of this year and the following months, we saw a considerable increase in the activities of Taliban and so is the insecurity in Kabul and all other cities and towns of the country.
This is not something unusual and unexpected. Every year, winter makes the movement of Taliban difficult and limited while summer always brings them with more suitable weather and green leaves and trees to hide and carrying out attacks on their targets becomes easier.
As a counter attack, our forces have also started military operations against the anti-state militants in all parts of the country, and the ministry of defense issued a statement according to which almost 300 militants had been killed by security forces in these operations in less than a week. On the other hand, dozens of police members and civilians lost their lives due to bomb blasts and suicide attacks while many more were injured.
The situation of security is no doubt concerning but we don’t hear much about them. Last week, newspapers reported the killing of militants, security forces and civilians in different parts of the country and the number of casualties always exceeded 50. Such large scale casualties is similar to one found in the countries at war but we didn’t hear much about them on television news or radio broadcasts. In a way, the news did not affect the lives of a common person too much.
But residents of Kabul and other major cities and towns of the country are concerned about the insecurity caused not by Taliban, militants or others who are fighting against the state but caused by those who live among us and who have run out of control of all.
The first group responsible consists of those politically strong and highly influential people who are either on good posts in the government or those who are relatives of ministers or other important government figures. Almost all the top-brass of police and army and old warlords can be included in this group. They are in position that no one can stop them or no law can be implemented on them. In a sense, they are far above any kind of law and they have no fear of any law or government. When a person is so strong that law cannot touch him, then he would definitely do whatever he wants to do, without any fear of law or its enforcers.
Then we can include those rich people who made unbelievable fortune in this more than a decade of democratic setup. They made wealth that cannot be compared to any other part of the world and even the rich Arabs might have not made such fortune without any effort. They own property, houses and plazas worth millions of dollars inside the country. They have bought property in Dubai, Turkey and many other parts of Europe and America.
They have opened bank accounts in Swiss banks. Their children study in international schools of England and other parts of the world. They spend their holidays in Europe and they ride the most expensive vehicles in the world. Their children receive their pocket money in hundreds of dollars. But their unlimited fortune can only be retained by illegal or sometimes criminal activities. In the same way, their lives are full of joys and pleasures for which everything must be provided and there should not be any kind of restriction in this regard. Their money is their strong weapon in turning every impossible thing into possible. They do whatever they want to do and they cannot be stopped by any kind of law as they win their way by spending their money.
After these two major categories, there are also present some other small groups responsible for internal unrest and insecurity and they all stem from the above mentioned two groups. The driver of a very strong political figure never stops his vehicle and drives violating all the traffic laws because he is dead sure that whatever happened, his boss would be there to save him. A group of policemen riding in a police vehicle drink wine and smoke opium in their vehicle just because of a fact that they are the relatives of a very strong police commander. A group of teenagers openly tease a girl on the road because they are the friends of the son of a minister and they are sure that no one would be able to say anything to them.
These groups started their illegal or even criminal activities soon after they got hold of power and wealth but when they saw that no one was able to resist or stop them, they grew more confident and now, they are involved in all kinds of activities. In our discussion, we will not include the bribery and corruption practiced in taking government projects and things like these because they are usually carried out secretly and don’t come into the direct observation of the common public. But we would definitely mention all those events that occurred in front of the eyes of public and that left their lasting imprints on the minds of people.
Eve-teasing is in its worst form in almost all the big cities and especially in Kabul. Many times, the girls are kidnapped, they are raped, tortured on the road and things like these. A few months ago, a mutilated dead body of a girl was found and the perpetrators were known to the people of the locality but they were so strong that nobody dared to say anything. There may be many factors responsible for this worsening condition of eve-teasing but one factor that contributes the most is the criminal activities of sons of rich and highly influential government members against whom no action can be taken.
In the same way, people are kidnapped, tortured, badly beaten on the roads, put behind the bars on fake cases, houses or property of people are occupied and many other criminal activities are carried out by those mentioned earlier. It seems that there doesn't exist any law for some people and the only law that works is of ‘might is right’. Last year, a politician tortured badly a policeman with his bodyguards, the son of an Army General tortured a traffic warden with his men and brother of a minister is famous for carrying gun all the times and beating others on petty things.
Same is the condition of traffic laws. We see that large vehicles with tinted glasses and belonging to the parliamentarians or rich businessmen never obey any kind of law. In the same way, police vehicles are also notorious in violating the traffic laws.
This absence of rule of law has also encouraged the criminals to carry out their activities without any fear of punishment. One more reason is joblessness which is forcing the people to go for criminal activities for earning the bread of his family. But the most frightening fact is the general perception that there is no law for the strong and rich and it exists only for the poor and weak.
Because of these facts, the belief of people about democratic government is deteriorating and they are feeling more and more insecure. The problem of Taliban and militants is purely external and visible but if the problem emerges from the within, the solution might be too difficult.