Land grab in Kabul embarrasses government Reported by: Pamela Constable 9/16/2003 (Washington Post) :: Afghans Protest Homes' Destruction The main wall has toppled into his yard, where the family cow is tethered to an apple tree. Half the roof has collapsed, and his wife is sweeping rubble into piles.
"The police came in and beat me with their guns when I refused to leave," said Ahmad, 56, an army officer and father of six who earns $80 a month. "The machines pushed down the wall and a wardrobe fell on my little girl. Our holy Korans were buried under the earth. I have worked for the army for 26 years, but now the powerful people with guns have humiliated my family and destroyed our home." A growing scandal over the tiny community known as Sherpur, spurred by two sharply critical reports from a U.N. housing expert and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, has deeply embarrassed the U.S.-backed government. According to the reports, seven cabinet ministers and Kabul's mayor received plots in Sherpur, which abuts the capital's most exclusive neighborhood, for nominal fees. The dispute has thrown a spotlight on the widely rumored but previously undocumented practices of high-level land grabbing, corrupt municipal real estate dealings and forcible occupation of properties in the capital, where half the population of 3.2 million does not have adequate housing. "What happened in Sherpur is a microcosm of what has been happening all over the city and the country," said Miloon Kothari, a U.N. special rapporteur on housing and land rights, who spent several weeks here. His final report accused several senior Afghan officials, including the powerful defense minister, of active collusion in official land grabs, and flatly recommended that they be fired. In his report, Kothari described a "culture of impunity" in which Afghan officials and other powerful individuals can seize homes and refuse to leave them or appropriate valuable public land for their own profit. "There is a crisis of housing and a freeze on land allocation, but that doesn't apply to the wealthy, the well-connected, the commanders or the drug lords," he said in an interview. Separately, the human rights commission released a report Sunday that described a widespread problem of forcible land occupation and profiteering by "warlords and strong governmental officials." In the Sherpur case, it listed 29 senior officials and other powerful individuals who had received plots for nominal fees, including six cabinet ministers, the mayor, the Central Bank governor and two former militia commanders. Aides to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said he was "infuriated" and "extremely upset" about the charges. At the weekly cabinet meeting today, aides said, he ordered a commission appointed to investigate the Sherpur case and upbraided his ministers on their responsibility to help the poor rather than enrich themselves. But two of the senior officials who received plots in Sherpur called a news conference today, during which they denied any wrongdoing. The officials denounced Kothari for interfering in Afghan affairs and challenged the work of the human rights commission, whose chairwoman sat in the audience. "I believe in human rights. I support human rights. This is political terrorism," said Anwar Ahady, the governor of the central bank, who was listed in one of the reports as receiving one plot of land. Like another official, Education Minister Yonus Qanooni, Ahady did not deny receiving the land, but said it had been legally transferred to him on Karzai's orders and that he had done nothing wrong. Qanooni said there was a difference between "taking land by force and being given land by the current rulers." He demanded an apology from the human rights commission and handed out copies of a letter from Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan, reproving Kothari for some of his public comments. But Brahimi, in a hastily called meeting today with several journalists, said he had "absolutely no disagreement" with the substance of Kothari's findings. He condemned the destruction of the Sherpur houses as "totally unacceptable" and said he had complained to Afghan officials about the problem of official land grabs and illegal occupation of homes. The disclosures of high-level land deals came as the Afghan capital is suffering from a shelter crisis of catastrophic proportions. According to officials, the capital's population has nearly doubled in the past two years, largely because of returning refugees, and about half the population lives in "informal" homes without electricity or water, such as tents and abandoned ruins. City planners have designed blueprints of low-cost housing projects but have no funds to build them. The Kabul municipality has turned away thousands of returned refugees who say they have old deeds to public land plots. "The housing supply in Kabul does not meet even 10 percent of the demand," said Nasir Saberi, the deputy minister for housing and urban development. It remains unclear how the situation in Sherpur escalated to such a dramatic confrontation and who ordered the land to be distributed to the senior officials. Ahady, Qanooni and others have said the order came from Karzai, but the president's spokesman strongly denied that. The spokesman, Jawad Luddin, said Karzai had "spoken very clearly" to the cabinet, declaring that no official had the right to individually bestow, sell or occupy city land. The Sherpur houses were built on land belonging to the Defense Ministry that surrounds an old army base. Some officials said the residents were asked to leave several months ago but refused. Gen. Bashir Salangi, the city police commander whose troops bulldozed the houses, said he would not have given the order without authority from municipal officials. "Those people [in Sherpur] are liars," he said. Housing Plan for Top Aides in Afghanistan Draws Rebuke 9/23/2003 (The New York Times) :: Outrage over a plan to build high-end residences in central Kabul for government officials is threatening to discredit the 20-month-old administration of President Hamid Karzai. The accusations come as Mr. Karzai enters the last year of his current term and he prepares for another foreign tour to raise money to rebuild. His government has already been losing support because of perceived injustices and the government´s slowness in its reconstruction efforts. To build the new housing, which would be for Afghan cabinet ministers, government officials and mujahedeen commanders, a crew of 100 armed police officers with bulldozers started demolishing the modest mud-walled houses of about 30 families two weeks ago. The crew broke down walls of 12 houses, injuring at least two children who were inside, residents said. In scuffles with the residents, the police beat several with rifle butts, residents said, leaving at least two men with cuts on their heads. "We received no warning," said Rahmat Shah, a former army colonel who lived in one of the houses with his wife and 10 children. "We faced armed people who said our houses were rubbish." Some families have repaired their damaged homes and refuse to leave. The United Nations Human Rights Commission´s special representative for housing, Miloon Kothari, was in Kabul at the time. He criticized the evictions and also questioned a system that allowed government officials to receive land and housing ahead of half a million people who have applied for land allocations in the city. He accused the defense minister, Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim, and the capital´s police chief, Abdul Basir Salangi, of being behind the action and said they should be removed from office. He also implicated the education minister, Yunus Qanooni. "The governmental authorities should not be involved in any processes that lead to further dispossession of the vast majority of the people of Afghanistan," Mr. Kothari said in an interview. The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission then published a list of 29 names of government ministers, mujahedeen commanders and local officials who had received plots of land in the area, known as Shirpur. As many as 300 officials have received plots, and all but 4 of the 32 cabinet ministers have accepted land, commission members said. "Any minister who accepts this, knowing the price is low, is liable and not being honest," Mr. Kothari said. "People see the land-grabbing and corruption." Evidently angry, Mr. Karzai denounced the plans and ordered an inquiry and a freeze on building in the neighborhood. "The government will resolve any issue around this and any mismanagement," his spokesman, Jawed Ludin, said at a weekly briefing. Then, on Wednesday, Mr. Karzai replaced the police chief, Mr. Salangi. Cabinet ministers who admitted benefiting from the plan denied any part in the attempted evictions, but defended their right to land or housing in the capital. One said she had accepted the land as part of a plan to provide secure housing for the cabinet. Four of those interviewed said Mr. Karzai had signed a plan last year for the development. A Defense Ministry spokesman denied that Marshal Fahim was involved in any wrongdoing. He said that the land distribution and demolition orders came from the mayor´s office and that the presidential palace had agreed to them. Mr. Karzai´s spokesman denied the president approved the plan. A man who identified himself only as Hakim, an engineer who lives across from the development, said that he and his neighbors had watched as high walls rose and that builders had told him the new housing belonged to Marshal Fahim, his cousin and several of his generals. Karzai 'to stop officials' land grab' Afghan President Hamid Karzai will take measures against ministers in
his own cabinet following allegations that they are grabbing land from
the poor, the finance minister has said. On Thursday, a top UN official said Vice-president and Defence Minister Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim and others should be removed from office for grabbing the land. A spokesman for the defence ministry told the BBC the allegations against Marshal Fahim were "all wrong". All the officials named by the UN envoy are from the Northern Alliance, which is the backbone of the government. Correspondents say there remains strong factionalism among those in power in Afghan ministries and their supporters. Crisis "When land is taken like it was in Kabul a few days ago, this creates a crisis of governance," the finance minister said. "Ministers should absolutely be forbidden to use public land for private gains." Ministers that are very directly involved have to be removed Mr Mirjan said: "These houses are planned according to the master plan for Kabul. This is an issue that's being decided by the municipal authorities in Kabul. Marshal Fahim doesn't have any intention to interfere in the plans of the municipal authorities in Kabul." Marshal Fahim was a key commander of the fighting force that defeated the Taleban and survived an assassination attempt in the eastern city of Jalalabad in April last year. Property disputes The UN's special envoy on the right to adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, said on Thursday he had spoken to people whose houses had been destroyed in Kabul's Shir Pur district to make way for new homes for ministers.
A spokesman for Mr Qanooni told the AFP news agency he was unaware of the allegations. Mr Kothari said: "There has to be change, and ministers that are very directly involved have to be removed. I don't see what else can be done. "A number of ministers... including the minister of defence are directly involved in this kind of occupation and dispossession of poor people, some of whom have been there for 25 to 30 years." Mr Kothari warned that if property disputes were not tackled they could return the country to "decades of conflict". Mr Kothari said growing land speculation in cities was "putting land and housing out of the reach of the poor". UN accuses top Afghan ministers of land grab KABUL, Afghanistan, 9/12/2003 (AFP) :: Top Afghan ministers are illegally occupying land and should be removed from their posts, a visiting UN-appointed, independent rapporteur on housing rights said on Thursday. Miloon Kothari, concluding a two-week visit to assess the housing and land situation throughout the country, named powerful Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Education Minister Yunus Qanooni as offenders. He warned that property disputes could plunge Afghanistan back into "decades of conflict". "Essentially what we have found there is that ministers and people at the highest level are involved in occupying land and in demolishing the homes of poor people," he told reporters. "In fact a number of ministers, including the minister of defence, is directly involved in this kind of occupation and dispossession of poor people, some of whom have been there for 25 to 30 years." Kothari, who was appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), said military commanders and senior defence ministry officials as well as Fahim and Qanooni were involved in the land seizures. "It's a very long list. People at the very highest level are involved in this occupation." Fahim's spokesman Gulbuddin denied the defence or education ministers were involved in any illegal land grabs. "We strongly deny any involvement of the defence minister or Qanooni in such things," he told AFP. "The Taliban could not occupy people's lands and houses so how could we do that." Qanooni's spokesman was unaware of the allegations. Kothari said the alleged land-grabbers had taken advantage of Afghanistan's chaotic post-conflict situation to seize property. "There has to be a change and ministers that are very directly involved have to be removed, I don't see what else can be done," said Kothari, who will present a report on his mission to the UNCHR in April next year. He said the land grabs and mass displacements of poor Afghans was a major cause of the insecurity besetting the country. It was also hindering aid and reconstruction projects as the country struggles to recover from 23 years of war and drought. "There is a great climate of insecurity that is being created across the country, which is for reasons other than armed conflict; it's for reasons of occupation, it's for reasons of land speculation, it's for reasons of property conflict," he said. "Unless these issues are addressed at the judicial level, at all other levels, what we are seeing in Afghanistan today is that we are sowing the seeds for decades of conflict ... due to a land and property and housing crisis." Kothari said there was an "urgent need" to establish a national housing and land policy and set up a land commission to tackle the problem. The special rapporteur last week criticised as "gross violations" the forced eviction of some 30 families and bulldozing of their houses built on defence ministry land in Kabul. Evicted locals, many of whom were former ministry workers, had told AFP they were beaten by police, given no advance notice of the eviction and offered nowhere else to go. Others were still in their houses when the bulldozer moved in. Kothari said growing land speculation, particularly in the cities, was "putting land and housing out of the reach of the poor". Rents have rocketed since the fall of the Taliban, with houses rented
for 200-300 dollars in 2001 now fetching up to 4,000 dollars a month. Top Afghan ministers in illegal land grabs’ KABUL, Afghanistan, 9/12/2003 (AFP) :: Top Afghan ministers are illegally occupying land and should be removed, visiting UN-appointed rapporteur on housing rights Miloon Kothari said Thursday. Concluding a two-week visit to assess the housing and land situation throughout the country, Kothari named powerful Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Education Minister Yunus Qanooni as offenders. Kothari, who was appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), warned that property disputes could plunge Afghanistan back into "decades of conflict". "Essentially what we have found there is that ministers and people at the highest level are involved in occupying land and in demolishing the homes of poor people," he told reporters. "In fact a number of ministers, including the minister of defence, is directly involved in this kind of occupation and dispossession of poor people, some of whom have been there for 25 to 30 years." Kothari said military commanders and senior defence ministry officials as well as Fahim and Qanooni were involved in the land seizures. "It's a very long list. People at the very highest level are involved in this occupation." Kothari said the alleged land-grabbers had taken advantage of Afghanistan's chaotic post-conflict situation to seize property. "There has to be a change and ministers that are very directly involved have to be removed, I don't see what else can be done," said Kothari, who will present a report on his mission to the UNCHR in April of next year. Afghan ministers under fire over Kabul evictions KABUL, Afghanistan, 9/13/2003 (The News, Pakistan) :: Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai said on Friday President Hamid Karzai would soon take action over the homes of poor families bulldozed in what has been described as a land grab by powerful cabinet ministers. "When land is taken like it was in Kabul a few days ago, this creates a crisis of governance," Ghani said. "Ministers should absolutely be forbidden to use public land for private gains." "This is unacceptable to people and the president is going to soon be taking decisive action to remove this kind of thing." On Thursday, a senior UN official accused Vice President and Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim and others of grabbing land from the poor and said they should be removed from office. Miloon Kothari, UN special reporter on the right to adequate housing, said Afghanistan’s overall rights situation was worsening nearly two years after the fall of the Taliban and urged that the UN’s monitoring mechanism be strengthened. Kothari told a news conference Afghanistan was facing a crisis over housing, land rights and corruption and inefficiency in its judiciary and other institutions. During a two-week visit, he spoke with people whose houses were bulldozed in Shir Pur, near Kabul’s upmarket Wazir Akbar Khan area, apparently to make way for homes for high-ranking officials. The “Land Mafia” Reported by: Dr. G. Rauf Roashan via AfghanServer@yahoogroups.com 9/15/2003 :: Abstract: Before sitting on the seats of power, some politicians humbly address people’s assemblies and pose as their true servants. It is only after their ascension to power that the truth of their claim is put to the test. The same test in the post-Taleban Afghanistan reveals that the transitional government is failing to fulfill its promises of a democratic society where all citizens are equal and benefit equally from the basic human rights including the right to housing, security and dignity. Recently the myth of service to the people was broken when some agents of the transitional government in Kabul bulldozed people’s homes. ******* Last week Kabul was shocked by the bulldozing of several houses in Sherpur village located between upscale residential area of Wazir Akbar Khan Mena and Share Nao. The military claimed the now prime land belonged to the Ministry of Defense and that lots were assigned in it for many cabinet ministers and ranking officials of the government dominated by members of the Northern Alliance. Reportedly each lot costs from $ 70,000 to $ 170,000. The incident also shocked the world that heard an eyewitness, Mr. Miloon Kothari the UN-appointed housing rapporteur’s call for action against the "land mafia." The rapporteur was so disturbed that he called for the dismissal of Marshal Fahim the Minister of Defense and Education Minister Mr. Yunus Qanuni whom he said were involved in the land grabbing program. The Defense Ministry and the spokesman for Mr. Qanuni both have denied the charges. However, a member of Mr. Karzai’s cabinet, Mr. Ashraf Ghani Minister of Finance is reported to have said about the bulldozing of people’s homes: "This is unacceptable to people and the president is going to soon be taking decisive action to remove this kind of thing." In the war torn country of Afghanistan, this is not the first incident when the powerful are trampling upon the rights of the weak and that in doing so they brazenly use a variety of weapons to achieve their goal. Agence France Presse quoting the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission’s spokesman Mr. Ahmad Nader Nadery said on Saturday: “The commission had investigated 634 rights violations since June, including cases of extra-judicial killings, rapes, trafficking in women and children, property violations and arbitrary detention.” Nearly half of these, according to the report, were related to property violations. The report alluded to the fact that property disputes were also linked to arbitrary detention and torture. The commission detailed cases in Nangrahar province where forced eviction of people had happened and those who had lived there for the past thirty years and resisted the eviction now were beaten and jailed. There too, the land was given to the powerful. The problem, according to reports, seems to be widespread. In an interview
granted to the IRIN, the UN Special Rapporteur has said: “From my
first hand observations in and around Kabul, Jalalabad and Kandahar and
from information received from other provinces, I believe that it is safe
to say that the non-respect of the right to adequate Another report by the Institute of War and Peace points to the problem of people who had lost their homes to Taleban. After arriving in Kabul, mostly the forces of the Northern Alliance and their many generals took over these properties and practically made them their own. Now the original owners have great difficulty in retrieving their homes from the powerful officials and officers who dominate the transitional government and the courts are incapable of resolving this issue. The above reports and incidents are troubling those who had hoped for a smoother transition to normal life in the country and who were hopeful of implementation of the basic rights of the people under a democratic system. Reports like the above show not only the weakness of the transitional government in addressing the dire needs of the people but they talk also of the arrogance of the powerful and their unchallenged power. The finance minister who said the president would soon take action against the officials involved in this violation of the rights of the people did not and could not specify the action and many people doubt if the president himself would be able to do so either. “His writ,” a previous report had said, “was only good in the center of Kabul and during the daytime.” Apparently the creator of the phrase forgot to exclude the offices of the powerful in the city center, no matter which time of the day. On the other hand, the incident shows the indifference of those in power to the human needs of the poor who reportedly were inside their homes when the bulldozers pushed their walls in and when their roofs buried their few belongings while they and their children were watching. Yet in Loya Jirgas and in political assemblies and gatherings you hear the politicians humbly pose themselves as the servants of the people.
[The Ethnic Cleansing of Afghans
in Northern Afghanistan]
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