Taliban Appoints High-Level Delegation To Investigate Killing of Afghan Migrants in Iran
The Taliban has appointed a high-level delegation to investigate the killing of Afghan refugees near the Iranian border.
A Taliban spokesperson said that Sadr Ibrahim, the group’s deputy interior minister, is heading the delegation and representatives of the ministries of defence, foreign affairs, borders and intelligence are members of it.
Hamdullah Fitrat, the Taliban's deputy spokesman, said in a statement that the group's prime minister had asked the delegation to present the results of its investigation into the killing of Afghan refugees on the Iranian border as soon as possible.
The Taliban probe was announced after an Iranian rights group, known as Halvash, initially reported the alleged Afghan casualties, saying they occurred Sunday in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan border province near Kolgan Saravan area.
The organisation quoted survivors as saying that about 300 Afghan migrants were attempting to unlawfully enter Iran in the Kolgan Saravan region when they were assaulted by Iranian border guards, resulting in deaths and injuries.
Kolgan Saravan region is in Sistan and Baluchistan province of Iran and borders with Panjgur region of Balochistan province of Pakistan. Apparently, the Afghan refugees intended to enter Iran through Pakistan.
Along with human smugglers, Baloch rebels also use this route to travel, and the Panjgur area is one of the areas where Baloch rebels have a large presence.
This is not the first time that Iranian forces shot at Afghan refugees at the border. Earlier, Amnesty International said in a report that Afghan migrants who wanted to go to safe countries through Iran and Turkey were shot dead by Iranian and Turkish border forces.
