(Last Updated On: March 4, 2021)
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hezb-i-Islami party is expected to hold anti-government demonstrations in Kabul on Friday, in protest over what they claim is government’s failure to fulfil its side of the peace agreement.
Hekmatyar says the demonstrations will lead to the ousting of government leaders.
“We will give a ten-day deadline at the end of the demonstrations on Friday. If our demands are not met, our demonstrations will continue in all the provinces of the country,” said Hekmatyar.
“Then our demand will be something else. All our demands will turn to one; Resignation; resignation of the government,” he added.
Govt Accused of Coercing MPs Over Budget
As the face-off over the current fiscal year’s budget intensifies, some lawmakers said the Afghan government has begun putting pressure on MPs by removing their relatives from public institutions, calling it such acts “illegal.”
The Parliament has rejected the budget plan two times in less than a month, citing at least 19 reasons behind this decision.
One MP said that the National Directorate of Security has been involved in political tumult and has removed 10 of its employees who are relatives of legislators.
The legislators accused the president, the national security adviser and the head of the Administrative Office of the President of conspiracy and said those illegally removed from jobs included, in the NDS, the brother of Hamida Ahmadzai, the husband of Robina Jalali, Lailuma Wali Hukmi’s husband, and others whose relatives voted against the budget.
Wahid Omar, presidential adviser, on Wednesday said that the reasons given by parliament for rejecting the draft budget plan are not legitimate, stating that the government and the parliame
MPs Seek Meeting with Ghani to Discuss Budget
A group of lawmakers has sought a meeting with President Ashraf Ghani to find a solution to the budget plan dispute that has been ongoing for a month now. The budget has been rejected by the parliament two times for various reasons, mainly a Afs15 billion ($ 193.8 million) increase in the ordinary budget for the current fiscal year.
The current fiscal year started on December 21, but so far, the budget for fiscal year 1400 has not been approved.
The financial and budget committee of the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of parliament, said that, based on the budget plan, the government is removing 13,000 public servants, but it has increased the ordinary budget from which the salaries of government employees are paid.