President of the Afghanistan Justice Organisation (AJO), Dr. Shafeek Seddiq, alleged in Colombo recently, that as a result of Afghanistan receiving huge international grants and unbridled corrupt practices, a class of young millionaires had been created and they should be persuaded to invest those ill-gotten funds for economic development of the country.
Addressing a meeting at the Colombo Hilton, Dr. Seddiq said that corruption was perhaps the root cause of all evil in Afghanistan.
He said that Afghanistan could emerge as a stable, prosperous and peaceful country if the period of transition from 2014 could be properly utilized for political stability through cohesion amongst diverse power centres, economic growth and establishment of security and law and order.
Despite doomsday prophesies by the West, the country had recorded an 11 percent annual GDP growth in the last 10 years and the Afghan security forces had succeeded in taking a firm control over the situation barring stray incidents of violence, he pointed out.
Dr. Seddiq’s lecture was a part of the joint lecture series organized by the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) and the Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung (KAS). It was presided over by former Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama.
KAS Country Representative in New Delhi Tomislav Delinic and RCSS Executive Director Dr. Mallika Joseph also addressed the gathering that included diplomats, retired and serving senior officials and think-tank members.
In spite of security threats from the Taliban and Al-Qaeda groups, warlords, drug-lords, opportunists, thugs and thieves, the security had improved over the years as safe havens of terrorists had been uncovered, counter-terrorist operations were somewhat successful and the terrorists had been forced to change tactics and now resorted to low-level violence, he said.
The Afghan scholar added that the Afghan economy had expanded post-international intervention, education had picked up and infrastructure had been improved and democratic institutions had been strengthened. He also pointed out that the media had proliferated and communication had made rapid advances.
Dr. Seddiq said that Corruption, perhaps, was the root of all evil in Afghanistan and revealed that his organization, AJA fought against money-laundering for terrorism as well as against narcotics. Highlighting the problems faced by civil society organizations, he said that it took seven months for the AJA to get an NGO license due to bureaucratic hurdles that thrived on a system of bribery and corruption.
As a result of large scale international grants and corrupt practices a class of young millionaires has been created and they should be persuaded to invest those ill-gotten funds for economic development of the country, Dr. Seddiq said and expressed the hope that the transition period would be sufficient for setting up a market economy that ensured Afghanistan’s emergence as a stable and peaceful south Asian nation.
Former Foreign Minister Bogollagama thanked the speaker as well as the RCSS-KAS for organizing the important lecture and said that he was glad to hear that the Afghan authorities had finally agreed to have a dialogue with the Taliban. He pointed out that Sri Lanka too attempted at a solution through talks with the LTTE but the government was forced to turn to the military option as the terrorist group did not believe in peace talks.
Emphasising the need for a strong legal system, Bogollagama said that Afghanistan should incorporate the fundamental laws associated with society into the legal system to ensure society’s acceptance of it as a whole.
Executive Director of RCSS, Dr. Mallika Joseph said that the lecture series started with the support of KAS in order to enhance understanding of the perspective of each member state of South Asia in order to strengthen the collective South Asian perspective.
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