While killing 25 Afghans, Prince Harry committed a crime against humanity: Suhail Shaheen
KABUL, Jan 07 (SABAH): Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) Permanent Representative-designate to United Nations, former Negotiations Team’s Member and Spokesman, Muhammad Suhail Shaheen while reacting to the statement of Britain’s Prince Harry for his admission of killing 25 people while on military duty in Afghanistan, has said that you have committed a crime against humanity.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Suhail Shaheen said that “They were freedom-fighters of their country, you were invaders. Their cause was legitimate. They were heroes of the people but you were their enemy”.
Suhail Shaheen said that even now, every day people visit graves of the heroes and honour their memory but send curse on you. “Will see whether the International Court and human rights organisations question you about this crime and bring you to justice or gloss over it; will see whether they are sincere in their mission or raise mere empty slogans” Sohail Shaheen said.
Earlier on Friday, the Taliban administration denounced Britain’s Prince Harry for his admission of killing 25 people while on military duty in Afghanistan, and a senior Afghan official has accused the royal of killing innocent civilians.
“We checked and found that the days on which Prince Harry is mentioning the killing of 25 mujaheddin, we did not have any casualties in Helmand,” Taliban leader Anas Haqqani told a foreign news channel. “It is clear that civilians and ordinary people were targeted.”
“This story is a part of the many war crimes of the 20 years of Western military presence in Afghanistan,” he said. “It is not the whole picture of the crimes committed by them.” The Taliban leader earlier accused the British royal of committing “war crimes”.
“Mr Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans,” Haqqani tweeted, referring to Prince Harry’s description that eliminating people who he said were “enemy combatants” was like removing “chess pieces” from a board.
“The truth is what you’ve said; Our innocent people were chess pieces to your soldiers, military and political leaders. Still, you were defeated in that ‘game’.”
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also criticised the comments by the British royal, which have received widespread criticism.
“The Western occupation of Afghanistan is truly an odious moment in human history, and comments by Prince Harry is a microcosm of the trauma experienced by Afghans at the hands of occupation forces, who murdered innocents without any accountability,” he said.
It is worth mentioning here that in his memoir to be released next week, Prince Harry reveals the number of people he killed during two tours of duty, British media have reported.
“My number is 25. It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me,” he wrote in the book “Spare”, due out on Tuesday. “When I found myself plunged in the heat and confusion of combat I didn’t think of those 25 as people.
“They were chess pieces removed from the board. Bad people eliminated before they could kill Good people.”
The duke of Sussex served in Afghanistan first as a forward air controller in air raids from 2007 to 2008, then flying Apache attack helicopters in 2012 and 2013. He served 10 years in the British military, rising to the rank of captain.
The prince explained his justification for his actions because of the 9/11 attacks in the United States and meeting families of the victims.
He said those responsible and their sympathisers were “enemies of humanity” and fighting them was an act of vengeance for a crime against humanity.