Jihadi, state leaders to meet candidates tomorrow

KABUL figures and leaderships of the three pillars of the state would be meeting the two feuding presidential candidates on Friday in a bid to end the political impasse that has paralysed the country.

A statement from the Presidential Palace said jihadi figures met leaders of the three pillars of the state, including President Hamid Karzai, at the Presidential palace on how to defuse the election tension.

The meeting was attended by Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, Syed Ahmad Gilani, Abdur Rab Rassoul Sayyaf, Vice-Presidents Yunas Qanuni and Karim Khalili, Chief Justice Abdul Salam Azimi, speaker and chairman of both houses of parliament Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi and Fazal Hadi Muslimyar.

Niamatullah Shahrani, Maulvi Qayamuddin Kashaf, Haji Din Mohammad, Mohamamd Ismaeil Khan and Gul Rahman Qazi were also present.

The participants expressed their deep concerns about the prolonged election process that had created multiple problems for the nation, the statement said.

The participants stressed that they should encourage the two presidential candidates to settle their dispute before the election results were announced.

The meeting decided to consult both the candidates, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Dr Abdullah Abdullah, on reaching a final decision on the deadlocked electoral process without further delay.

The high-level meeting comes as the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) said on Thursday it had conveyed its decision on complaints from the presidential runners to the poll panel.

Abdul Sattar Sadat, the watchdog’s chairman, told a news conference in Kabul the Independent Election Commission (IEC), could challenge the decision within 24 hours of its receipt.

“In case the IEC doesn’t object to or stays silent on our decision, it is bound to announce the final result and name the winner as new president,” he said, adding the sitting president was duty-bound to facilitate the peaceful transfer of power.

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