Insecurity impedes voter cards’ distribution

GHAZNI CITY (PAN): Residents and some public representatives from Ghazni province say those living in remote parts could not travel to district centres for obtaining voter registration cards due to insecurity on roads.

A provincial council member and resident of the Andar district, Amanullah Kamrani, said remoteness of registration centres and insecurity remained a major challenge facing residents.

He said registration centres had been opened in district centres and those living 10 to 15 kilometres away were unable to visit them. If the government does not ensure highway security, it will have no option but to open voter registration centres in villages.

Another council member, Hamida Gulistani, said conditions for participation in the registration campaign remained unfavourable amid fewer registration centres and insecurity in remote parts.

She asked how residents of the districts, where administrative chiefs could not perform duties due to security threats, would obtain voter cards.

Zankhan, Giru, Waghaz, Nawa, Aab-i-Band and Rashidan are the towns where residents say voter registration centres are yet to be opened. Mohammadullah, who arrived in Ghazni City for shopping, said no registration centre had been opened in the district.

He added if a centre was opened, it would not help because people in remote parts — fearing Taliban’s wrath — would not visit the facility.

A Giru resident, Abdul Karim, is among many who have not yet obtained voter cards. “There is no registration centre in our area, but people will not apply for voter cards due to insecurity and threats from the Taliban,” he said.

However, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) chief for Ghazni, Abdul Basir Jalali, said registration centres were operational in 15 districts and so far 24,000 individuals had been registered, 23 percent of them females.

He added the commission planned to open registration centres in the remaining three districts and, if security was assured, such facilities would be extended to remote villages as well.

Around 20 days ago, IEC spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor put at two the number of districts — Nawa and Zankhan — where registration centres had not been opened.

ma/mud

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