Politicians, civil society activists urge people’s mobilization against terror groups

A number of political figures and civil society activists have urged mobilization of people against the actions of the terror groups in the country.

Criticizing the United Nations’ action regarding the recent insurgent attacks in the country, the politicians and civil society activists urged the government to avoid supplicated actions against the armed groups.

Addressing a commemoration ceremony held for the victims of terrorism in the country, Ahmad Sayed, a politician and commentator said that all the international entities in Afghanistan including UN only condemning the militant attacks in Afghanistan, instead of having actions to prevent such incidents.

“Wasn’t it your decision to work with us? Wasn’t it our decision to bring peace and stability? They [the government] should give response,” said Sayed Ali Kazemi, a member of the parliament.

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‘Political parties not effective in Afghanistan’

The political parties are not effective in Afghanistan and that except criticizing the government do not have “comprehensive” plans, according to First Deputy of Meshrano Jirga.

“Let’s strengthen the system instead of destroying and condemning it further. We urge the [political] parties to pay heed on national interest,” said First Deputy of Senate House (Meshrano Jirga).

Some political parties, however, believe that they do not have any kind of responsibility regarding the issues of war and peace in the country except having an encouraging and supporting role.

“In political issues [the parties] can play a constructive role but the issues of war and peace are the responsibility of the government. Political parties could only encourage and support and can’t have an active role in the issue of war,” said Anwarulhaq Ahadi, Chairman of New National Front of Afghanistan.

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Political parties set government two-week deadline

Political parties and grand national coalition on Friday set the government a two-week deadline to address their demands or will halt the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections.

Changing the election system, allowing political parties to play a supervision in the election process and the usage of biometric system were among issues as the political parties in a released statement called for its implementation within two weeks.

“The ambiguous and manipulated voter registration process shows that the election process has been already engineered in a way so that it could pave way for every kind of systematic fraud in favor of National Unity Government leaders,” said Masoud Trushtwal, a member of Afghanistan’s Council for Protection and Stability.

He said if the government and the election commission do not guarantee transparency of the elections, the political parties will prevent the upcoming elections from being held in the country.

The political parties, meanwhile, said that they have set up a national delegation for facilitating direct peace talks with the Taliban.

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Political parties called for a change to the electoral system

A group of influential political parties on Monday called on the government to identify the share of political parties in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

In addition, the parties objected stamping of the voter’s national identity cards and suggested shifting from the current SNTV electoral system to a multi-dimensional representation (MDR) system, because the MDR system would give political parties more weight in the upcoming parliamentary ballot.

“On 19 May 2018, the political parties jointly approved the MDR electoral system and we were expecting to submit an official letter to the quadrilateral commission, but unfortunately the government has failed to form the commission yet,” said Mohiuddin Mahdi a senior member of Jamiat-e Islami Afghanistan.

The parties claimed that the government and the Independent Election Commission (IEC) are looking for systemization of fraud for 2019 presidential elections by using paper identity cards.

“We won’t allow anyone anymore to oppose with the fate of Afghanistan’s people,” said Asadullah Sadati a member of [Hezb-e] Wahdat-e Islami Afghanistan.

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Political parties react to Ghani’s peace offer to Taliban

A number of political parties have reacted towards the remarks of President Ghani regarding peace talks with the Taliban at Kabul Process II conference.

Some of the political parties said recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group will not have an impact in the peace process, insisting that it will rise new issues.

“It is a mistake to officially recognize Taliban and their office as it will create more issues,” said Fazl Menallah Mumtaz, Spokesman of Hezb-e-Islami party. “The government should not let the Taliban political office in Qatar to be closed.”

Some parties, however, welcomed the government’s peace plan, saying it provides an opportunity for the Taliban to reach into a peaceful agreement.

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