Family members of protestors who were killed by police gunfire in Kabul in 2017, and those who lost their loved ones in a truck bombing in Zanbaq square in the same year, on Wednesday accused the Afghan government--particularly the Afghan legal and judicial institutions--of failing to prosecute those responsible for the attack.

The victims' families said that the government is deliberately choosing not to bring the criminals to justice.

Speaking on the 4th anniversary of the 2017 attack, Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the High Council of National Reconciliation, and Mohammad Mohaqiq, the leader of Hizb-e-Wahdat-e-Islami, also criticized the Afghan legal and judicial institutions for failing to address the demands of the victims for justice. The two leaders said that inaction by these entities creates gaps between the government and the people and the entire legal system.

“There is a decision to raise the case in the Hague court,” said Kalikmullah Hamsukhan, a member of the Rastakhiz-e-Tagheer Movement.

“The head of the government to low-level officials, and those who have a role in the decision-making and those who were in the ranks of the leadership of the National Unity Government--are involved in the murder,” said Mohammad Alam Ezedyar, the deputy of the Meshrano Jirga, the Afghan Senate.

“When someone serves in the post of deputy speaker of the Senate, and his son has been sacrificed, and the case is on its fourth year, then what will the poor people do?” said Fazel Hadi Muslimyar, the head of the Senate.

“If we are not able to provide an answer to this basic question asked by the people, of course, the situation will be as it is today,” said Abdullah.

In 2017 a powerful truck bomb detonated in the Green Zone area near the German embassy in Kabul killing and wounding over 1,000 people. Later on, youth gathered at the blast scene to pressure the government to improve security. The protests turned violent and police opened fire, killing 12 protestors including Salim Ezedyar, the son of Mohammad Alam Ezedyar, the deputy speaker of Afghanistan’s Meshrano Jirga.