KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's lower house of parliament on Saturday voted into law a revised resolution calling for an amnesty for groups suspected of perpetrating war crimes during a quarter century of fighting, but also recognizing the rights of victims to seek justice. The vote by the overwhelming majority of the members present in the Wolesi Jirga came after President Hamid Karzai revised the initial resolution which called for an amnesty from war crimes for all involved in the three decades of fighting.The revised resolution grants a general amnesty from prosecution to all groups - rather than individual members - who led the anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s and then plunged the country into a civil war that killed tens of thousands. The revised resolution does not protect individuals from prosecution for war crimes, so long as their alleged victims are prepared to raise charges - placing the burden of proof on those who suffered rather than the state.
The decision came a few days after Afghanistan's highest body of Islamic clerics ruled that parliament cannot issue a blanket amnesty from war crimes because only the victims of those crimes can forgive the perpetrators.
The resolution applies only to those who accept Afghanistan's Constitution and the authority of the government, meaning it would apply to some former Taliban who have reconciled with the government but not to current leaders such as Mullah Omar.