Following the Taliban’s order to evacuate and confiscate Omid-e-Sabz Township in western Kabul, a delegation of representatives from the township has traveled to Kandahar to seek a meeting with Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. According to sources, the purpose of the trip is to seek justice and directly request the Taliban leader’s intervention to prevent the implementation of the evacuation order.
Sources have confirmed that the 30-member delegation left Kabul for Kandahar on Tuesday evening, 13 Asad. Images obtained also show representatives of Omid-e-Sabz Township traveling to Kandahar in several buses.
It remains unclear whether the delegation will succeed in meeting with the Taliban leader. Sources said that after residents’ efforts to pursue the matter through channels in Kabul failed, their representatives decided to travel directly to Kandahar in an attempt to draw the Taliban leader’s attention to the issue.
Abdul Hakim Sharaei, the Taliban’s Minister of Justice, recently issued the order to evacuate the township. Sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice has given Omid-e-Sabz residents until Thursday, 15 Asad, to vacate their homes.
Sources have also added that Mullah Shirin, the Taliban governor of Kandahar, has promised to follow up on the issue. He is considered a close figure to Hibatullah Akhundzada.
According to local sources, the decision has caused concern and uncertainty among thousands of families living in Omid-e-Sabz Township. These sources have also accused the Taliban’s Minister of Justice of adopting a discriminatory approach toward Hazaras and Shias.
A Taliban special court in Kabul ruled in Saur this year that more than 1,500 jeribs of land belonging to the township should be considered state property. The decision came after the Taliban’s Land Grabbing Prevention Commission announced that part of the land in Omid-e-Sabz Township, located in Kabul’s sixth district, was government-owned.
In Hamal 1404, the Taliban decided to begin a review of the ownership status of the land and investigate the case.
In recent years, representatives of the Shia Ulema Council have also attempted to meet with the Taliban leader and sent a delegation to Kandahar, but they have so far failed to meet with him.
Hibatullah Akhundzada rarely meets with Taliban officials and does not hold public or civilian meetings.
Writer:Salima Aryaei
