Why Staging Protests in such a Critical Time?

The recent protests that were seemingly launched to register the protestors’ dismay over the poor performance of the government in security sector showed how a protest can be hijacked so easily by the spoilers for their personal purposes. The initial protest, made of many female as well as male activists, started one day after the suicide attack that took a heavy tool of civilian lives in Kabul. Reports suggest that a total of 150 civilians were killed and 350 were wounded in the suicide attack.  Although no group has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, the Afghan government has labeled the incident as a joint venture of Haqqani Network and the ISIS. The Haqqani Network denied the allegations in a later statement, which most of the time the group does.

The incident was significant from many angles, it was unprecedently huge from one side and occurred when the Afghan government was preparing itself for the first gathering of Kabul Process in Kabul for the first time.

On the following day, a group of protestors marched towards the venue of the incident and wanted to pressurize the government to take firm steps for ensuring security in Kabul.

The protestors peacefully chanted slogans against the corrupt officials, and called upon the government to arrest culprit of the attack. The protest was about to disperse when it was joined by a huge mob of other protestors. However, the mode of the second protest was radically different than the first protest. Some of the protestors in the second protest had put their arms on display and was carrying banners inscribed with hatred messages against certain ethnic groups and individuals belonging to a certain ethnicity. However, unlike the second group of protestors, the first group was more disciplined, unarmed and more peaceful.

The protestors in the first group left the venue as soon as the second group arrived in the site of the protest. Pictures from the protest show that they were bombarding police and other security forces in the venue and were trying to incite violence. A portion of a videofrom the protest is evident that some protestors loudly asking one of the speakers, Abdul Latif Pidram, to step up down from the stage  and stop making political speech.

Given the emotions of the protest, their access to arms and the exploitation of the protestors by certain individuals, violence was seen imminent in the protest. As the protest was unfolding, chances of exploiting the situation elevated. When the protestors broke lines of police and came into direct contact with the PPS( Presidential Palace Security) shorts were fired from both sides. As a result, son of the Deputy Speaker was shot to death.

The basic tenants of observing protests calls for leaving the site of the protest by the protestors when violence seem imminent in a peaceful protest. However, the protestors didn’t observe this principle despite a serious threat of violence in the protest.

It’s up to the judiciary of Afghanistan to decide whether killing of Salim Izad Yar, son of the Deputy Speaker of Upper House of the Parliament, was a conspiracy or personal vendetta by someone in the protest or was it a crime by the Afghan security forces, one thing is crystal clear that the protestors didn’t observe any law or rules. Majority of them were knowingly or unknowingly chanted slogans that were against the very fabric of the Afghan society and were even abusing certain non-Jamiati individuals.

Text messages from the cellphones that have been found in the venue show that the protestors were motivating their friends to join them with arms and to get ready to topple the government. Ironically, the protestors were chanting slogans against the president. There were no or negligible protesting voices against the CEO, who comes from the same political party of the protestors and who has 50% share in the national unity government.

Also, as the main guarantor of security and someone who is and should be held responsible for providing security, the Minister of Interior was also ironically not being protested.

It is widely believed that the protests were just a show of power by a certain group and is seen as a first step towards something very large. Many Afghans believe that the protestors are sparked by foreign powers who wanted to fail the Kabul process and create a continuous threat among various social groups in Afghanistan.

The protest tents erected by the protestors caused huge problems and millions of dollars damage to the economy.

Whatever is the motive of the protestors they owe Afghans a clarification about the time of the protest. Afghans ask them why did they stage such huge protests when the Kabul process was just two days away.

View expressed in this article are of the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Pajhwok’s editorial policy.