An angry standoff on Friday night between police and security guards of parliamentarians led to the calling of an emergency session at parliament.
A spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Interior said the situation began when police demanded to search vehicles with black-tinted windows. The security guards resisted the search, and tension escalated until both sides were brandishing weapons.
Referring to the security guards, eyewitness Mahboob Shah, said: “They showed their AK-47s to the police. The police wanted to remove their vehicle’s tinted glass, but they resisted.”
The standoff ignited pre-existing tensions. The police accuse MPs—and their security forces—of abusing their privileges and acting above the law. The MPs, on the other hand, claim that the police abuse their authority and harass MPs.
As a result, the Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi was summoned to parliament late last night to address the situation and answer for the behavior of the police. The emergency session was unprecedented, and Kabul residents were surprised. “Several districts collapsed, but we’ve never seen any emergency meeting by the lawmakers,” said Rafi Mahboob, a resident in Kabul.
It also surprised lawmakers: “Based on our internal rules and procedures, we don’t have anything like emergency meetings at midnight,” said MP Abdul Qayoum Sajjadi.
“These (lawmakers) organized a meeting to ask why the law is applied to them, why their black-tinted cars should be searched,” said MP Ramazan Bashardost, criticizing last night’s emergency meeting.
“Last night’s incident and argument between the police and MPs in Kabul is under investigation,” said the Ministry of Interior spokesman Nusrat Rahimi on Saturday afternoon. “The main task of the police is to maintain public safety and enforce the law.”
An MP recounted his experience with the police:
“They asked me to come down, so I came down from my vehicle. I said, ‘My brother, we are the representatives of the people,’ they (police) said ‘We don’t care, we have orders from the honorable minister and Mr. Sadat,’ said MP Narendra Singh Khalsa, referring to the Interior Minister Andarabi and the Deputy Minister of Interior, Khoshal Sadat.
Sources have said that members of parliament are demanding the dismissal of the officials who have ordered the inspection of vehicles of the lawmakers.
But members of the Ministry of Interior have said they will not surrender to bullying or tolerate violations of the law.
