Export of ISI terrorists to India through scholarships by Afghan Identity

Recently the Ministry of Ethnics and Tribal Affairs of Afghanistan assigned the Indian scholarships to the Pashtoons on the other side of Afghan borders in Pakistan who are Pashtoons but Pakistani citizens.

This has brought the objections by the parliamentarians who are aware of the issue and were concerned about the negative consequences of Minister’s action for India- Afghanistan relationships.

It is not the first time and we have had such experiences in the past as well. So this alarm by the Parliamentarian Dr. Mehdi drew the attention of the whole parliament and would lead to the questioning of the minister.

Dr. Mehdi’s brightening action worked out and the Minister of Ethnics and Tribal Affairs was questioned in the parliament for why he had assigned those Indian Scholarships to the students across the border who were neither loyal to Afghanistan nor guaranteed for security reasons representing Afghanistan abroad, because they were not Afghan Citizens.

To answer the question, the Minister instead said that he doesn’t officially recognize the Durand Line and there is not any border between Afghanistan and Pakistan so the tribes on both sides of the borders are brothers regardless of their citizenships.

This ridiculous statement by a senior Afghan Official gives the alarm that Afghanistan is moving towards a state of Tribal Totalitarianism in which the tribes would gain the highest power and privileges and democratic values are not worth anything hereafter. In this case a large number of the Afghanistani population would have to suffer again the sovereignty of a minor group of Pashtoon tribal fundamentalists and extremists in the country such as Taliban.
From long ago, as a discriminating policy, the superiority of the across-border tribes and the Pashtoon nomads was seen in the parliament as well, where they are being allocated ten special seats as a quota there.

But now in this special case of scholarship allocations, rises the question of security concerns, which needs an overview of some previous cases such as 2008 terrorist attacks in Bombay, where there were clear evidences of misuse of Afghan Identity by the Pakistani Intelligence Services using the Pashtoon citizens of Pakistan which were then revealed after the investigations.

In a separate case based on his personal experience an Afghanistani journalist Hossain Zahedi highlighted a very important security issue during his trip from Canada to Pakistan in 2009. Mr. Zahedi had witnessed high level administrative corruptions in Afghan consulates in Pakistan where anyone could get an Afghan passport or an identity card paying some fee to the consulate. He then wrote an article on it pointing out the security concerns that corruption could cause.

Using these fake identity documents, the tribal Pashtoons would not only help the Taliban attack Indian interests in Afghanistan but they also use them during the elections to help their brothers in either side of the Durand Line.

Afghanistan is a multi-ethnic country which is moving towards democracy and this young democracy is still fragile and needs taking care of. This democracy as a value can guarantee the equality, social justice and fair opportunity without discriminations to all citizens of the country otherwise giving privileges to the tribes clears the ground for Tribalism and Talibanism which is dangerous for the major part of the people of Afghanistan.

The contribution friend countries make to Afghanistan has to be very careful and precise especially in allocation of funds and educational scholarships. If these funds and scholarships would go to wrong people it would not be only wasted but also will be used against the people of Afghanistan and the helper friend country.

Minister Asadullah Khalid says he doesn’t officially recognize the Durand Line and there is not any border between Afghanistan and Pakistan so the tribes on both sides of the borders are brothers regardless of their citizenships