ICC, Afghan Govt Investigating Recent Mass Killings

The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Wednesday said that the Afghan government and the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague are assessing the recent attacks in Afghanistan that targeted civilians.

Hamid Tahzib, the deputy spokesman of the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday said that Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar during his recent trip to Holland raised the issue with prosecutors from The Hague.

Meanwhile, a number of lawmakers in Afghanistan’s Parliament on Wednesday said that the Afghan government has failed to prevent mass killings of the Hazara people, and insisted that these attacks on Hazara people must be considered genocide.

“More than 35 deadly attacks could be considered a genocide; unfortunately, the government did nothing,” said MP Mahdi Rasekh.

“If the government is not able to protect them, then it should seek cooperation from the local community,” said MP Abdul Rauf Enaami.

“It should be determined, which person or which (group) is committing such acts, or who really supports these incidents,” said Zabihullah Farhang, a spokesman for the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

“If it is not possible for the government to tackle it at the national level, then there are international courts including the ICC which can work together with the Afghan government regarding this issue,” said MP Nahid Farid.

“Recent terrorist attacks on the students and the civilians are under the joint assessment of the country’s legal and judicial institutions and the International Criminal Court,” said Hamid Tahzib, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the past month, western areas in Kabul witnessed a series of deadly attacks on civilian targets including an attack on a girls school in the Dasht-e-Barchi area of Kabul that killed 85 students and wounded 245 more.