A family member of the victims of the Taliban offensive in the Sewak village in central Afghanistan’s Daikundi province is demanding justice by telling the story of how his family was wiped out in the blinks of an eye by Taliban fighters.
Abdul Rauf Hakimi, the brother of Aminullah Mali Hakimi, one of the victims of the Taliban offensive on civilians in Sewak village, Daikundi, in an open letter addressed to the international community on Friday (December 2nd) said that the attack on Daikundi is part of the Taliban’s broader agenda to exterminate and persecute Hazaras.
He stated in the statement that he lost eight members of his family. The Taliban shot more than 60 bullets at each of the victims, according to him. Abdul Rauf detailed that the bodies of the victims, including women and children, were such that it was impossible to wash their bodies for burials.
The bodies were buried in blood-soaked shrouds, Hakimi added.
He listed the number of victims who died in the Taliban offensive, three children named Mehdi Jafari, 14, Mohammad Jafari, 11, Enayatullah Jafari, 12, a woman named Murwarid Jafari and four men named Aminullah Mali Hakimi, Ebrahim Yaqoubi, Mohammad Alam Jafari, Sher Mohammad Jafari and Amir Jafari.
In the meantime, he says that at least five members of his families are currently in Taliban custody and may be killed by the Taliban if human rights groups do not pay attention.
Another member of his family is still missing, according to Hakimi.
By narrating the story of the Taliban raid on Sewak village and his family’s fate, he asked the rights groups to hold the Taliban accountable for their actions.
Abdul Rauf Hakimi said that there is a power vacuum in Afghanistan and there is no transparent institution where he can file a lawsuit to bring justice for his family.
However, he says that the international community, human rights defenders and civil society groups around the world have a moral and political responsibility to condemn the mass atrocity crimes being committed against Hazara families in Daikundi province and press the Taliban to release the detained members of his family.
He also said that Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, has a responsibility to investigate what happened in the village of Sewak, Daikundi.
Last week, Taliban fighters raided the village of Sewak Shibar in Daikundi, killing at least eight members of a family, including three children and a woman, and justifying that they carried out the attack to remove an armed group in this village.
