A clash between local residents and the Taliban in Khwaja Bahauddin district of Takhar province resulted in seven people being injured. The clash occurred on Friday, December 9, as Taliban forces usurped their agricultural lands and pastures, residents tell Zan Times.
It’s the latest seizure of properties by the Taliban in the area. “First they took our houses and now they are taking our pastures and agricultural lands,” says Ahmad*, one of the residents in the district. “For this reason, we have been protesting and resisting the Taliban with sticks and shovels for three days.”
He adds that the residents approached both district and provincial authorities but were ignored by Taliban officials.
According to Zan Times sources, 980 acres [400 hectarres] of agricultural lands and pastures of Shurtaghi and Jangli villages were taken from residents by Mullah Kamaluddin, a Taliban commander, and redistributed to members of the regime.
Shortly before these agricultural lands were confiscated, locals say the Taliban forced 350 families of the same Khwaja Bahauddin district to leave their homes and the area. With nowhere to go, some had to set up tents in neighbouring villages. Residents claim the Taliban distributed their properties to nomads from Pakistan’s Waziristan who had moved to the area with the help of the Taliban.
Since the Taliban have regained power, there has been a stream of reports of villagers forced at gunpoint to leave their houses and villages, which were then handed over to someone else. In Jawzjan province, thousands of acres of land and hundreds of houses in Qosh Tipa have reportedly been usurped by the Taliban and distributed to the nomads. Also, a number of Hazara residents in Daikundi, Uruzgan and Balkh provinces were forcibly displaced by the Taliban, who then occupied their lands. On October 30, Zan Times reported the Taliban forced the residents of Ashtarlai district of Daikundi province to leave their lands by force, threats, and beatings.
At the same time, the Taliban Ministry of Justice announced on its official website this week that 4,872 acres of land in Sar-e Pul province was declared the property of the Emirate, and thus taken from the hands of its current occupants.
In some cases, previously powerful landlords claim ownership of entire villages, where generations of poor peasants have eked livelihoods from the land. Zan Times reported that feudal lords are using the Taliban court system to appropriate property in Daikundi and Ghor from the small and very poor land holders. The Taliban court system is famous for delivering quick results. And when it comes to land disputes, the Taliban sides with powerful absentee landlords, displacing the most vulnerable and leaving them with no shelter ahead of the coming winter. According to news reports, tens of thousands of villagers have been forcefully displaced in the past year.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees.
