SHARANA (SW) – Documents obtained by Salam Watandar indicate a Wolesi Jirga (lower house) candidate from Paktika province has embezzled his way in to the final list of victorious candidates.
This candidate, Khalid Assad, was not named in the initial list of the three male successful candidates. However, the final list issued by the Independent Election Commission has him among the other two male candidates, Mohammad Mirza Katawazi and Nader Khan Katawazi.
As per a report by the NDS, a biometric device with serial number SVTAE003648 used for voter verification that went missing in Paktika has been used to benefit Assad. The report has noted that this device was meant to be used by IEC officials in the Badar School in the vicinity of Dalo village in provincial capital, Sharana. According to the report, Assad’s electoral team misused this device for illegal votes for him.
The NDS claims to have confiscated the device from Assad’s team who were conspiring to use it even after the polling time was over. The Independent Election Complaint Commission in Paktika has been asked through a message to exclusively investigate the votes cast in the Dalo village.
When contacted, Fahem Samim, head of the provincial chapter of the IECC, told SW it has referred the matter to the Attorney’s office here due to ambiguities surrounding it. He added the IECC had nullified the votes cast in Bader School, but the IEC in Kabul reversed this ruling.
Other documents obtained by SW indicate Assad is also involved in land-grabbing in the province. Based on these documents, Mohammad Faheem Mangal, secretary for the IECC in Paktika, has asked the directorate of justice to provide documented proof about land-grabbing and possession of illegally armed militias associated with Assad and another WJ candidate, Mehmood Sulemankhail.
In response to this inquiry, the directorate of justice has responded that there are no cases registered against Sulemankhail, but Assad is charged with grabbing a patch of land earmarked for a parking facility. The land authority in Sharana has also issued an official statement demanding the provincial administration to help stop construction over public property.
A document issued by the local court to the civic court has claimed the prosecutor has declared a patch of public property as private property without considering the legalities.
Khalid Assad has rejected all these allegations as part of conspiracy against him by a number of former WJ members, whom he charged with corruption. He claimed to have possess legal documents and decree by the former president, Hamid Karzai, declaring this patch of land as his private property.
According to the electoral watchdog, TEFA, some 5000 of the estimated 22,000 biometric devices for voter verification are missing since the WJ polls last year.
ENDS
