PESHAWAR: Journalists in Kabul called on the caretaker government of Taliban and international community to investigate those who have left Afghanistan under the guise of journalism as real reporters are trapped in the country.
According to journalists, some media organisations have also issued fake identity cards and documents which are being used to escape from the country. A reporter named Sirajuddin said, “Some people misused journalists’s names of through forged documents.”
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Mukhtar Ibrahimi, another reporter, said, “I know that many organisations in Kabul and other provinces issue fake journalistic documents to hundreds of people.”
Several female reporters on the occasion said that they are in a very terrible financial situation after the fall of the previous government and the closure of several media outlets. Correspondents called on the government to provide them with opportunities to continue their work as a reporter in Afghanistan.
According to organizations supporting independent media in Afghanistan, more than 150 media outlets have been shut down since August 15. A reporter, Ferozan Khalil Yar, said: “A female reporter called me and asked for cleaner of cook position because of her precarious financial condition.”
Deputy Head of the Afghanistan Federation of Journalists Hujjatullah Mujaddidi said the federation, in collaboration with security agencies, had launched an investigation against some media organisations for issuing forged documents for evacuation in the name of journalists from Afghanistan. “We are investigating media organizations accused of issuing fake documents to help flee Afghanistan under the guise of journalist,” Mujaddidi said.
Afghan reporters have expressed concern over the misuse of journalists during the United States evacuation process. A Bloomberg News reports said that KamAir has arranged special plan to evacuate journalist and their families from the country but no journalist were allowed to fly as the company’s members and their families boarded the plan.