KABUL, Afghanistan — A Taliban spokesman announced on Sunday plans to construct a parking facility for large vehicles in an area currently inhabited by 70 Ismaili families in northern Baghlan province, dismissing reports of forced eviction.
Last week, Afghanistan’s embassy in Italy, managed by diplomats from the former government, reported that the Taliban had given the Ismaili families a few weeks to vacate their homes or face forcible removal.
However, Alam Majidi, a Taliban spokesman in Baghlan, told the Taliban-run Bakhtar News Agency that the land, described as government property, is being willingly offered by the families for the construction of the parking lot.
The Afghan embassy in Italy stated that the families have been given a deadline of June 20, the third day of Eid al-Adha, to leave the area.
Human rights defenders have strongly condemned the situation. Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, has highlighted the violation of minority rights, as well as the rights of women and girls, as significant issues under the Taliban regime in his various reports.
