HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Dozens of residents of western Herat province on Wednesday gathered in support of lawmakers who staged a walkout from the Wolesi Jirga in protest against ignoring qualified Herati security officials in promotions.
Abdul Ghani Khalili, head of the eighth municipal district council in Herat City, the provincial capital, said: “We want the government to stop discrimination and ignoring talented and qualified people of Herat.”
He lamented Herat province produced talented individuals to be hired in military and civil departments but they were currently jobless and the government continued to ignore them.
Earlier, lower house members from Herat had said talented and professional Herati security officials had been ignored in recent promotions to key posts.
The lawmakers accused the government of discrimination in its recruitment drive and warned that Heratis serving in the military would leave their jobs.
After coming into power last year, the unity government has appointed new faces to key government posts and recently the president appointed new chiefs for zonal police headquarters.
Ghulam Farooq Majroh, a lawmaker from Herat, said: “We don’t want privileges on ethnic lines, but no one from Herat is among the recently appointed officials.” “We are not against the new security officials, but want justice which is our right.”
Majroh said if proper attention was not paid to the people of Herat, they would disassociate themselves from security institutions and their trust would be harmed.
Monawar Shah Bahardur, another lawmaker from Herat, said: “Herat makes up 10 percent of Afghanistan total population, but it has less than five senior officials in the army.”
He said there was a province the population of which equaled the population of a district of Herat, but the said province had 50 military generals in the armed forces. “It is not justice.” He said the current government was not based on unity rather on a contract.
MP Khalil Ahmad Shaheedzada said Herat was part of Afghanistan and the Afghans were proud of the western province. He urged the government to stop ignoring the province.
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