Iranian protesters attack Afghan trucks to demand flow of Helmand water

New Delhi, Jan 29 (IANS) People in the Sistan-Balochistan province of Iran which borders Afghanistan took to the streets on Friday and demanded the right to water that flows from Afghanistan, Iranian State media Irna reported.Security forces in the port interfered after the protests started attacking trucks that belonged to the Afghan people, Khaama Press reported.Eyewitnesses say that Iranian protests broke the windows of trucks and inflicted financial loss to the drivers, the report said.Meanwhile, another group of Iranian protestors rallied at the Afghan consulate in Zahedan city and demanded the flow of Helmand water to the country.After the demonstration of Iranian nationals, the Afghan drivers rallied on Afghanistan soil and asked for their losses to be refunded.The demonstration comes a year after former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani inaugurated hydroelectric dam-Kamal Khan Dam- on the Helmand River and said that they will no longer give water to Iran for free but in exchange for oil, the report said.The flow of the Helmand River to Iran has been a matter of conflict for years between Afghanistan and Iran which has not been fully resolved after the war erupted in Afghanistan.
--IANS san/skp/

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