KABUL: The Afghan government has launched a probe into the beating last month of a lawmaker, allegedly by men loyal to a powerful northern warlord, an official at the interior ministry said on Saturday. Faizullah Zaki was on holiday in his hometown in northern Jozjan province when he was attacked, apparently for violating the line of Jambush-i-milli, Abdul Rashid Dostam's ethnic Uzbek party, parliamentary sources said.A government delegation has been sent from Kabul to investigate the incident, which occurred some three weeks ago, said interior ministry official Abdul Wahab Khetab. "That's true that Mr Zaki has been beaten. We've sent a delegation to investigate," Khetab told AFP. "Until the delegation has delivered its report we can't say who has beaten him up or why."
Following the beating, Zaki was airlifted to a hospital in the Uzbek capital Tashkent where he is still under treatment. A parliamentarian speaking anonymously said the beating was triggered by the allegation that Zaki had backed President Hamid Karzai's cabinet nominations during a vote by the lower house in April. Another lawmaker who also refused to give a name told AFP that Dostam had ordered Zaki's beating.