JALALABAD (PAN): Hundreds of people in this eastern city of Jalalabad on Saturday staged a protest against what they called anti-Pashtun conspiracies being hatched by Pakistan and Iran.
Arranged by the People's Movement party, the peaceful march took place between the fourth police district and the Pashtunistan Square. They chanted "death to Pakistan," death to Iran" and "death to the corrupt Afghan administration."
The protestors called on Pashtuns to awaken and prevent the conspiracies being hatched against them. One of the organisers, Roohullah Isazai, said the plots against Pashtuns had lately been begun to surface.
"Pashtuns are not terrorists; they do not kill people; they hate war. They have been victims of international plots hatched by neighbouring countries," he claimed, accusing the corrupt Afghan government of complicity.
Isazai said the Durand Line was not acceptable to the Afghans as an international border and Pakistan should forget about its recognition.
He said the two-hour protest march was aimed at condemning the killing of Afghans by Iranian guards in earlier in the month. He added the anti-Pashtun conspiracies began after the Bonn conference in 2001.
Another participant, Aleem Farahi, said Pakistan was attacking Afghan territories and Iran killing Afghans, but the government in Kabul would not take serious action to prevent such atrocities.
"We have been left with no option but to pick up guns in the defence of our land," he said, alleging many President Karzai's close aides were supporting neighbouring countries in their actions against Afghanistan.
The protestors also chanted slogans against Hakim Shujaee, who has been accused of killing more than a hundred Pashtuns in central Uruzgan province.
