GHAZNI (SW): Ghazni province is situated in the southeast of the country with only 150 kilometers distance from the capital city, Kabul. For months, the province has been under attack by terrorists. Ghazni city was once the center of the Ghaznavid dynasty, and a few years ago it was named the center for Islamic Culture and Civilization, however, these days the Ghazni province is becoming home for terrorists and the insecurity has been increasing in this province in the past few months.
The terrorists have turned Ghazni into a slaughterhouse of human beings and the terror machine takes lives of innocent people every day. In addition, Ghazni has been neglected by politicians as well nowadays.
The National Unity Government has appointed a governor for Ghazni, who according to the media reports has resolved his own legal matters in the desert court of Taliban. Such governor for sure cannot defend the people of Ghazni and the employees of the government against the terrorist.
The attack on the Khawaja Omari police headquarters a few months ago, in which the district governor and the district police chief were killed along with several others, could be an example of the inability of the governor to defend the people and the police forces.
The incident took place a few kilometers away from the governor’s office in Ghazni, however, the Ghazni governor was not dismissed but shamelessly appeared in the desert court of Taliban to solve his issues, and neglecting the sacrifice of the police force and the innocent people, he even did not answer the questions of the central government.
The negligence of President Ghani and the CEO Abdullah Abdullah towards security in Ghazni has led the province to a security chaos in which we witness nowadays that the fighting has reached to the most secure districts of this province recently.
Malistan was one of the most secure districts, but recently was attacked by the Taliban and similarly, Ajristan was about to collapse into the hands of the terrorist groups a few weeks ago.
Ghani and Abdullah who traveled to Ghazni districts during their election campaign in 2014 have not only failed to respond seriously to the devastating events of the past few months in Ghazni, but also with not opening the voters’ registration and polling stations in the province, will deprive many citizens of their voting rights.
Latifa Akbari, Ghazni Provincial Council Chairwoman told Salam Watandar that voters’ registration centers have not been opened in the districts of Ghazni so far. Meanwhile, the voters’ registration process has begun 50 days ago and the registration of the candidates for the House of Representatives and district councils was officially launched on Saturday this week.
In addition to the inability of the government to open the voters’ registration centers in districts of Ghazni, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) office in Ghazni has been closed since two months due to protests by some people who have illegitimate demands per the government’s response to them.
Although gatherings and protests against injustice are citizen’s rights, these protests should not be in conflict with the law. Protests should be carried out in a way that the rights of other citizens are not violated.
Those who closed the gates of the IEC’s provincial office, instead of insisting not to stick the labels on the copy of the birth certificates, should demand from the government to provide them security and they also should support the government in bringing security to their areas.
Although the IEC sent a delegation to Ghazni to resolve the problem of the protesters and reopen the IEC’s provincial office, the negotiation between them failed. This suggests that the government is not serious about solving the problem and reopening the IEC provincial office in Ghazni, as well as the voter’s registration centers in the districts.
The dual politics of the NUG regarding Ghazni’s safe areas are showcasing the politics of revenge. Because, President Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, on the one hand, invite people to enroll for the elections, and on the other hand, the voters’ registration centers, especially in the safe districts of Ghazni are kept closed so as to prevent the political participation of the people in the election process to revenge the massive participation of residents of Ghazni in the previous elections.
In the previous elections for the House of Representatives, the Ghazni residents with a widespread participation were able to send 11 representatives to Wolesi Jirga and Mishrano Jirga. Though the result of the election was not acceptable by the then President Hamid Karzai and he wanted to change the result by creating a special committee, however, with the harsh reaction of the public and immense pressure from civil society organizations, he eventually had to accept the result.
President Ghani and CEO Abdullah, however, are playing different cards this time. They are aware of the importance of the Ghazni’s voters and if not the case they would not have visited Ghazni in their previous election campaigns. President Ghani and CEO Abdullah are aware that by keeping the voters’ registration centers and the polling stations closed, they will constraint the Ghazni people to not be able to send their 11 delegates to the Wolesi Jirga and Mishrano Jirga this time.
The leaders of the NUG have made empty promises to the people of Ghazni in the 2014 election campaigns, however, with keeping the voters’ registration and polling stations closed, it doesn’t seem that they are fulfilling their promises, but to revenge, otherwise there is no reason to keep the voters’ registration centers closed in the safe areas of the province.
ENDS
