New Delhi
17 September 2005
Abdul Khalil Omarzadah is an Afghan refugee
of Tajik origin living in Delhi. There are about 10 thousand Afghan
refugees in India many of whom fled to India as early as 1982 and have
since registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees. None of them will be able to vote in the parliamentary and
provincial elections of Afghanistan, which will be held on Sunday after a
gap of several years.
According to the ambassador of Afghanistan in India, Mr Masood Khalili,
no provision has been made for Afghan refugees or nationals living in
India to cast their votes. Same is the fate of Afghans living in the US and
Europe. Not because of any "bad intention", as he explains, but because
of certain logistical reasons: There are very few Afghans in India and the
United Nations agencies monitoring the polls could not register them as
voters.
"I would have liked to vote but no arrangements have been made," Abdul
Khalil Omarzadah told this correspondent. For the younger lot of Afghan
refugees like Husmiya Samadi and Abbas, elections are a novelty but
travelling to Afghanistan and casting their votes is an expensive
proposition. So while some of their relatives back home would vote, the
Afghans living in Delhi will simply follow the elections from several
hundred kilometres away.
The ambassador, Mr Khalili, says the parliamentary and provincial
elections, which are being held under the shadow of the Taliban threat to
disrupt the electoral process, are an important turning point for
Afghanistan in general and Afghan women in particular. In the 249-
member Lower House (Wolesi Jirga), 68 seats have been reserved for
women. Two seats have been set aside for women in each of the 34
Provincial Councils.
Appreciating the contribution by India towards construction of the
Parliament building in Kabul and strengthening of democratic institutions
there, the ambassador observes that the first visit by a delegation of
parliamentarians after the September 18 polls would befittingly be to
India. "India," he adds, "is helping lay the foundation of tomorrow's
Afghanistan."
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