17.06.2002 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Institute for War and Peace Reporting: Representations of smaller minorities in Loya Jirgah ("Minorities Make Themselves Heard") [#30493],  [ID 1606]

"This is the first time our representatives have come to a Loya Jirga," said Tordi Akhund, from the Kirghiz minority in the Wakkan corridor in the province of Badakhshan, a mountainous area with little or no agriculture. "No one has even come to discover our problems. There is no road for vehicles. Even horses and donkeys find it difficult going."
He said the area used to have about 5,500 Kirghiz families. When the war with the Soviet Union broke out, 300 of them moved to Pakistan and were then granted asylum in Turkey, where they remain. The Kirghiz speak a Turkic language."

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