Taliban have intensified pressure on residents of Punjab district in Bamiyan province, forcing families in several villages to sign documents surrendering their land, local sources told Amu.
Residents said people in the villages of Rashk, Tobak, Guli, Hoz Mahmood and others in the Pusht-e-Gharghari area were ordered to vacate their homes and hand over land deeds. Some families who refused to sign the papers fled the area but now face arrest warrants issued by the Taliban on charges of “causing division,” the sources said.
A resident of Punjab said disputes over land in five villages of Gharghari and Pusht-e-Gharghari have already led to Taliban-backed transfers of property to nomadic Kochis. “One village’s land was handed to Kochis with the mediation of the Yakawlang district governor, and now they are selling the produce from our lands,” he said.
Displaced families from Rashk village, now living in tents, said they have lost livestock, belongings, food and clothing. “With Taliban support, the Kochis forced us out of our homes. We are still displaced in the mountains and tents as the weather turns cold,” one villager said.
Earlier, sources told Amu that 25 families from Rashk village in Pusht-e-Gharghari were forcibly displaced on the orders of Taliban-appointed Bamiyan governor Abdullah Sarhadi. The displacement, residents say, has now spread to several other villages.
Taliban have not publicly commented on the reports.
