Amarkhel rejects as plot reports of fleeing

KABUL (Pajhwok): Former Independent Election Commission secretary Ziaul Haq Amarkhel on Saturday rejected as conspiracy the rumors that he was trying to flee the country amid allegations of electoral fraud against him.

Amarkhel resigned as IEC secretary last month to ease political tension surfaced after presidential candidate Abdullah’s team accused him of committing fraud in favour of his rival candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai during the June 14 runoff election.

Amarkhel told reporters in Kabul he had been in Dubai for medical treatment but his trip was called an attempt to flee the country as part of a propaganda and conspiracy against him.

He said like every Afghan, he also had the right to travel abroad using the same passport and visas. But some circles named the trip as an attempt of fleeing the country, he said.

“I have no dossier against me and I have not been accused by any department, that’s why all allegations against me are unfounded. I want to live in my country and serve the people until my last breath.”

Amarkhel called as fake an audio clip released by Abdullah’s team, saying the IEC should seriously probe the recording and share its findings with the people.

He said the group and individuals involved in the making of the fake audio would be exposed soon.

He said he resigned in a bid to bring Abdullah back to the electoral process. “As an Afghan, I resigned so that Abdullah resumes his cooperation with the election commission, accept its decisions and respect the agreement and electoral principles he agreed to during his nomination.”

Amarkhel said governors and provincial police chiefs had not been impartial during the elections but he had tried his level best to prevent such interferences.

He said many people were deprived of their right to vote on the Election Day due a conspiracy by the Kabul police chief.

The Kabul police chief had accused Amarkhel of dispatching a truckload of blank ballot papers to polling centres in Kabul and the Sarobi district without the authorized police escort.

But Amarkhel said the ballots were meant for dispatching to polling stations ran out of ballot papers on the voting day.

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