After Two-Week Delay, Taliban Confirms Shooting Of Afghan Refugees At Iranian Border

Bennett said that Canada should emphasise on its positions to improve human rights, especially women's rights, in order to normalise relations with the Taliban.

Richard Bennett, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights, is on a six-day visit to Canada to review the human rights crisis in Afghanistan.

He wrote in a note on the social media network X that during the trip, he met with a number of Afghan citizens, including refugees, activists, and journalists in Toronto and Ottawa.

"I heard from young women and ethnic minorities such as Hazaras, Uzbeks and Turkmens about the brutal treatment they face in the absence of a coherent international strategy to address the dire human rights situation in Afghanistan," said Bennett.

The United Nations also said in a statement that Bennett thanked the Canadian government for the important steps it has taken to hold the Taliban accountable to its international obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

According to the statement, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights thanked Canada for accepting 50,000 Afghans since August 2021 and emphasised on the continuation of this support.

Richard Bennett called on Canada to support at-risk Afghans seeking asylum. "I call on Canada to abide by its commitments to rescue programmes and to meet basic humanitarian needs, while ensuring that the principle of avoiding support for terrorist organisations is respected," he said.

Zaidong called on the Pakistani government to launch military operations against all anti-Chinese terrorist groups.

Zaidong on Tuesday (October 30) expressed his dissatisfaction over the security problems in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project and the occurrence of "terrorist" attacks against Chinese citizens. He called two deadly attacks on Chinese employees in Pakistan in the past six months "unacceptable”.

"Under no circumstances can we tolerate repeated attacks, and these attacks have resulted in casualties," the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan said. "Pakistan should take more security measures to protect Chinese employees, institutions and projects."

Zaidong also stressed on the need to punish the perpetrators of these attacks and crack down on anti-China "terrorist" groups.

In the past six months, there have been two attacks against Chinese citizens in Pakistan, one in March and the other 10 days before the Chinese premier's visit to Pakistan, in October.

At the conference, Pakistan's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar attributed his country's security situation to the "friendly policies" of the previous Pakistani government with Afghanistan. He referred to the visit of Faiz Hameed, the former head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), after the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.

"We should blame ourselves for the cup of tea we drank in Kabul," Dar said. “We have to blame ourselves for the 102 hardened criminals who were involved in various crimes but were released after a cup of tea," he added.

"We should blame ourselves for the 35,000 to 40,000 terrorists who left Pakistan but returned to the country after the opening of the borders with Afghanistan," he added.

Pakistan's foreign minister and deputy prime minister also stressed that anti-terrorism operations have been launched in the country and its results will be presented soon.

The authorities of the Islamic Republic have not yet commented on the reason for the arrest of this former military man.

Sari was the former police chief of Takhar province. He went to Iran after the return of the Taliban to power.

A number of former military personnel have gone to Iran and Pakistan fearing reprisal from the Taliban, and some of them have been deported to Afghanistan over the past three years due to lack of legal documents. Some of them, who live in Iran and Pakistan, are worried about being deported to the country.

According to reports, a number of former military personnel have been arrested and killed in some cases by the Taliban after being expelled from Iran.

In a recent interview with Afghanistan International, Sari had confirmed that one of Marshal Dostum's commanders was killed after being expelled from Iran.

He was referring to Ezatullah, the former commander of the Junbish-e-Milli Party of Afghanistan, who was murdered in Sar-e-Pul. Ezatullah had fought against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan for years.

In August this year, Sari told Afghanistan International that when commander Ezatullah was expelled from Iran, he was killed instantly. Sari had said that he had a list of former military personnel who were immediately arrested by the Taliban after being expelled from Iran.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry did not mention when the meeting would be organised.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday (October 30) that its representative met with the UN official in New York.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry said that during the meeting, they stressed on the need to use "positive developments" of the third Doha meeting during the fourth round of the meeting.

The third two-day Doha summit was held in the Qatari capital in July this year under the leadership of UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo.

Taliban representatives had participated in the third Doha meeting for the first time. Women, civil society, and political opponents of the Taliban were not present at the meeting. The absence of women and civil society members has been widely criticised by international organisations, human rights groups, Afghan women activists, and former officials.

Rosemary DiCarlo, who chaired the third Doha meeting, said that she was fully aware of the criticism of the third Doha meeting.

At the end of the third meeting in Doha, the UN Under Secretary-General emphasised that this process and interaction with the Taliban does not mean the normalisation of relations or the recognition of the Taliban. Rosemary DiCarlo said that it is the policy of the United Nations that people should be at the centre of decision-making and that women are part of the people.

According to a decree from the Taliban’s leader, both government employees and citizens are prohibited from carrying or storing weapons without an official permit.

The ministry clarified that such permits are now exclusively issued by the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation within the Ministry of Interior, rendering permits from any other institution invalid.

Since the Taliban's return to power in August 2021, the group has actively pursued the disarmament of the public, often employing coercive measures to collect weapons from civilians. Reports indicate that, in some instances, individuals have been compelled to surrender arms under the threat of force.

The ministry stated that these new regulations are intended to strengthen oversight of weaponry and reduce public disturbances.

Following the withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan, a significant amount of U.S. military equipment remained in the country, much of which has reportedly been acquired by Taliban forces.