By Gul Khan
Special to Korea Times
KABUL _ As hectic efforts by Afghan government and the Korean mission continued to ensure release of the 23 Korean citizens taken hostage by obstinate Taliban militants, common Afghans are also losing patience and want a peaceful end to the episode.
It was on Tuesday, when the Korean ambassador Kang reached Ghazni - the province where the tourists were seized by a band of armed men - to hold direct negotiations with the kidnappers, that dozens of locals took to the streets in the province to press Taliban for the safe release of the hostages.
Numbering around 400 to 500, the local Afghans, including schoolboys, laborers, teachers, medics and common citizens, staged a rally in the main market of Ghazni City, capital of Ghazni province and asked the militants to release the hostages without any preconditions.
Holding of peaceful protest rallies and staging of demonstrations for the acceptance of demands is not a common practice in the war-battered Afghanistan and people often resort to violence if they see someone is usurping their rights.
It is partly because that democracy is quite new to the Afghan people, who are just struggling to shed off the effects and repercussions of the nearly three decades of war and civil strife that killed and maimed millions of people and produced hundreds of thousands orphans and widows.
The protestors argued that those taken hostage were their guests and it was against Afghan traditions to harm their guests.
They were of the view that as the captives also included women, therefore, the captors must release them forthwith because seizing a guest, and particularly a woman, is grave violation of the local culture and traditions.
In Afghanistan, especially in the majority Pashtun society (Pashtuns are forming roughly 53 percent of the multi-ethnic Afghan society.
The other ethnicities are Tajiks, Hazara, Uzbek and Turkmen), a guest, even though he may be your enemy, must be treated well and must not be harmed when he visits your house or village.
Asadullah, one of the participants of the Tuesday's rally, said it would damage their century-old traditions of hospitality and generosity towards their guest if any harm was inflicted on the Korean citizens.
He said participants of the rally had issued a joint declaration asking the militants to release the hostages without seeking any ransom. The declaration warned that Taliban would lose support among the local population if any of the captives was harmed by them.
Although, no protest demonstration was reported in the central capital Kabul or from other parts of this landlocked country, there is widespread condemnation of Taliban by kidnapping women.
In Kabul, no rally or demonstration was staged in support of the release of the hostages because people are mourning the death of the last Afghan king Muhammad Zahir Shah, who passed away on Monday and was laid to rest on Tuesday afternoon.
However, the hostages issue remained the hot topic in public places, offices and hotels and restaurants. Everyone is listening to radio bulletins (radio is the most effective source of information in Afghanistan and 80 percent people listen to radio) to hear about some breakthrough in the hostages deadlock.
Clerics in mosques in the central capital Kabul , are also unanimous in their view of condemning Taliban for kidnapping foreigners, especially the women.
An Imam (prayer leader) of a mosque in the Makro Rayan locality of this capital city, when contacted for comments , said that it was against Islam to kidnap or kill innocent and unnarmed people who are not fighting you, even though they are "non-believer" (the word Muslims use for non-Muslims).
The cleric, who requested not to be named, said there were only a few people who are warning bad name to Islam through such deeds.
``Islam never allow any Muslim to kidnap an unarmed or non-combatant, keep him captivity and them get ransom from his relatives of country,'' said the religious scholar.
At the same time, he advised all those visiting Afghanistan to be cautious while going outside Kabul, because some areas are more dangerous for foreigners. Earlier, soon after the kidnapping of the Korean citizens, Governor of Ghazni province Merajuddin Patan had also spoken the same sentences. He said that foreigners should be careful and inform the government before moving outside Kabul.