Meshrano Jirga or upper house members on Sunday said licenses of political parties having military wings and those acting against the law should be suspended.
Senator Zalmai Zabulai told today’s session that a number of political had not passed through the legal procedure but they were operational.
“Political parties should first pass the legal procedures and then be given license,” he said.
He stressed on dissolving of military wings of political parties and said strong and national parties could help end Afghanistan crisis.
Another senator, Abdul Baqi Baryal, also stressed legalizing of political parties and said some parties did not act based on the law and still had military branches.
The recent conflict involving military wings of political parties in the northern part of the country was one such example, he said.
Baryal said political parties should manage their activities in accordance with the law and dissolve their military wings or the government should suspend them.
The lawmakers did not name any party having military wing, but armed clashes between supports of the Jamiat-i-Islami Afghanistan and the Junbish-i-Islami Afghanistan resulted in the killing of 15 people and injuring of 27 others in Faryab province last year.
Later a delegation tasked with investigating the incident said it was a criminal case not a political.
Aman Riazat, a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, said 110 political parties were registered with the ministry but 50 of them who lacked a clear agenda had recently been cancelled.
Based on the law on political parties, a political party cannot follow goals that are in conflict with Islamic values.
The parties cannot use force or threaten people, propagate or fuel tribal, linguistic and religious difference, disrupt public security or financed through foreign sources.
The law says a political party must have at least 10,000 members and have branches in at least 23 provinces of the country.
Date: 09/04/2017
Author: Khwaja Basir Fitri
Source: http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2017/04/09/political-parties-military-wings-be-suspended-mps
