President Karzai Meets with elders of Gujr tribe

June 14, 2009

President Hamid Karzai met on Sunday, June 14 with a number of elders, scholars and influentials of Afghanistan’s Gujr community, who are mostly residing in north and eastern parts of the country.

The community elders during the meeting in the Palace raised their problems of both social and environmental natures and called for more education opportunities including schools and dormitories for their kids in their localities.

While asking for more government efforts in boosting livestock and development, the representatives conveyed to the President the need for residential plots of land for the Gujr tribe, whom they described as a “deprived minority”.

The President termed their needs legitimate and said, “Every citizen even in a small minority is the proud owner of this land.”

The President encouraged the elders to send their children to school and that it is the responsibility and duty of the government to provide facilities necessary to enable the environment for that end. He further directed the relevant government agencies to take required action to address the problems Gujr community face.