Afghan Prez Ghani, Hekmatyar to sign peace deal on Thursday

Kabul [Afghanistan], Sept. 27 (ANI): Habiburrahman Hekmatyar, son of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, former prime minister of Afghanistan and leader of the Hezb-e Islami group, has said that a peace deal between his father and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will take place on Thursday. In an interview with TOLOnews, Habiburrahman maintained that his father will not attend the signing ceremony scheduled to take place at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, but will speak via a video link. He said Hizb-e-Islami will not apologiSe for its role in the civil war and in the killing of innocent people. He also said the international community has assured them that the restrictions on Hekmatyar will be lifted. Responding to remarks by the human rights commission and families of victims that spoke out against Hizb-e-Islami, he said, "More than 80,000 disabled persons are registered in the Hizb-e-Islami council. Our goal is to give privileges to the families of victims of the jihad period." Meanwhile, reports suggested that a number of Members of Parliament called on the Afghan government to hold up its side of the agreement with Hizb-e-Islami. The draft peace agreement between the Afghan Government and Hezb-e-Islami party was signed last week. Afghan National Security Adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar signed the agreement on behalf of the government, while Mohammad Amin Karim signed the agreement on behalf of Hezb-e-Islami. The agreement was signed after almost six months of continued negotiations between the two. (ANI)