A benevolent life cut short
(From The Japan Times August 31 issue)

打ち切られた貧困救済に捧げた人生

Mr. Kazuya Ito, a volunteer aid worker, was kidnapped Aug. 26 along with his driver by a group of armed men believed to be close to the Taliban in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. His bullet — riddled body was found the next day.

Since December 2003, Mr. Ito had been engaged in an agricultural project to help local people. Before departing for Afghanistan, he had told his parents to bury his body in the soil of that country if something happened to him. Although lofty words are seldom translated into action, Mr. Ito was clearly a man who meant what he said. His dedication to the Afghan people was genuine and he willingly risked his life for their welfare.

Mr. Ito, 31, of Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, studied raising vegetables at a junior college before joining Peshawar-kai, a nongovernmental organization. Under the leadership of Dr. Tetsu Nakamura, who has provided medical and other services in Pakistan and Afghanistan for more than 20 years, the NGO started a project in 2003 to build a 30-km irrigation channel in the desert outside Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. A 19-km portion has been completed. More than 10,000 local people have returned to their homes since the land became arable again.

Mr. Ito mastered the Pashtun language and grew close to local residents. He taught them how to raise rice, sweet potatoes and other plants. His dream was to create an "environment in which children will not have a difficult time concerning food." In Afghanistan, which was once self-sufficient in food, the food self-sufficiency rate has fallen to about 60 percent.

Close attention should be paid to Dr. Nakamura's remark that Japanese aid workers began to feel threatened as soon as it was reported in June that Japan was considering sending troops for reconstruction in Afghanistan. He also said policymakers had no clue as to what was happening on the local scene.

It is appalling that someone who dedicated so much time and effort to help the Afghan people suffered such a fate. His killers must be brought to justice. We pray for the peace of his soul and extend our condolences to his family.

アフガニスタン・ナンガルハール州で8月26日、ボランティアの援助活動家、伊藤和也さんがタリバン勢力の関与が疑われる武装組織に拉致され、翌日、銃弾を浴びた遺体で見つかった。

2003年12月から農業指導にあたった伊藤さんは、現地の人々のためにまさに命を賭けた。

伊藤さんが属した「ペシャワール会」は2003年より灌漑用水路建設に着工、耕地可能となった土地に1万人以上の村民が帰ってきていた。

伊藤さんは現地語を話して作物栽培を指導、子供たちが食べ物に困らないよう願った。自給自足だった国の自給率は約6割まで落ちている。

会代表の中村哲医師は、政府が6月にアフガン本土への自衛隊派兵を検討した際、現地の支援活動家が危険を感じ始めた、政治家は現地の状況を分かっていないと述べた。