Final Afghan election results show Hazara minority trumped dominant Pashtuns

Hazaras' strong showing is concerning to majority Pashtuns – many of whom couldn't get to the polls because of insecurity – and casts doubt on how fair the election was.

Kabul, Afghanistan
Nearly two months after Afghans cast their votes in the parliamentary election, the country’s Independent Election Commission released the final results for all but one area of the country.
While concerns remain about corruption and fraud, one of the biggest flash points ahead may prove to be the disproportionately large number of Hazara representatives elected – especially compared to Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.
“It is indeed the deprivation of a very large group in the country, pushing them further towards isolation,” says Haji Mohammed Hazraq, a member of the provincial council in Wardak. “One of the biggest reasons for insecurity is that the Pashtuns don’t see their representatives in the government, despite being the largest group in the country.”
The swell in Hazara representation comes in large part from insecurity in Pashtun regions that kept potential voters from the polls on election day. Throughout the country, most of the fighting takes place in Pashtun areas and the Taliban is almost exclusively Pashtun movement. As a result, they were more likely to experience threats and danger on election day and military forces had greater difficulty securing their areas.
“The security forces created a vacuum, nobody was there, and the Taliban threatened them,” says Israr Khan, the president of the Awakened Youth Association, a political awareness group focused on creating peace.

Hazaras' disproportionate strength

Early analyses of the final results show that the Hazara community may have snagged a share of the lower house that represents as much as double their actual proportion of the population.
In Ghazni, the last remaining constituency to be counted, preliminary results indicated that all 11 seats went to Hazara candidates, even though the province has a slim majority of Pashtuns with significant Hazara and Tajik minorities. Officials estimate it will be another week before they have official results due to the closure of numerous other polling stations, as well as other election-day irregularities, such as one district that only counted three votes.
Wardak province also saw a surge in Hazara representation. Though the region is predominately home to Pashtuns, three of the five seats went to Hazaras.
All this is a serious concern for many of the country’s Pashtuns, who allege that they are now underrepresented, especially in Wardak and Ghazni.
The Hazaras’ victory, however, is unlikely to spark ethnic strife. Instead, it may cast further doubt on the fairness and representativeness of the elections. Ethnically imbalanced results suggest to some Afghans a process that was either not truly democratic or, at worst, rigged.
Allegations of fraud still loom heavy over the election, with doubts remaining about whether today's announced results will be accepted.
Hours before the IEC publicized the results, a number of candidates launched a demonstration protesting what they say was a corrupt and fraudulent election.
Such demonstrations have been commonplace since the elections took place on Sept. 18 and nearly one-quarter of all 5.6 million votes were thrown out due to fraud.

Was the Hazara vote fair?

The enthusiastic participation of Hazaras versus the lackluster turnout among other ethnic groups – particularly Pashtuns – has created competing narratives since voting day.
Hazaras have faced historical oppression in Afghanistan. Their suffering under the Taliban regime and their newfound rights under the current Constitution has made the community an ardent supporter of the democratic process. Hazaras turned out to vote in force.
However, Hazara leaders suspect that other ethnic groups – fearful of the Hazara strength at the ballot box – have worked through the government to suppress as much of the Hazara vote as possible.
In Hazara areas of Kabul, as well as the Ghazni districts of Jaghori, Malistan, and Nawur, ballots ran out early, with some Hazara leaders claiming the government purposely short-changed polling centers there. In one mixed Hazara-Pashtun district of Ghazni, Qarabagh, no polling centers opened at all due to a lack of voting materials.
Leaders from other ethnic groups, however, see no evidence of systematic suppression of Hazara votes.
A current Pashtun parliamentarian from Ghazni, Daoud Sultanzoy, scoffs at the notion of Hazara disenfranchisement, pointing out that Hazaras looked poised to sweep all the seats, including his own. But he acknowledged that their enthusiastic participation paid dividends not enjoyed by other groups.
“I don’t want to blame Hazaras, whether they cheated or not. They participated in the process, whether they milked the process for everything they could – good for them,” he says. “The Pashtuns and Tajiks did not fulfill their responsibilities as citizens, did not participate in some parts of the province.”

An inexperienced parliament

While there will no doubt be tensions as the government resolves final voting tallies in Ghazni, few believe that it will create any violence.
“I don’t think this will lead to an ethnic confrontation. Because the election turnout was so low and there was massive fraud, I think for most people it doesn’t really matter what the results showed,” says Masood Farivar, manager of Salam Watandar, a national radio network.
Generally speaking, Afghanistan’s new 249-member lower house of parliament will be a largely inexperienced organization. Only about 90 seats went to incumbents, meaning there will be at least 148 new members. The upper house was not elected in this cycle.

News Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/1124/Final-Afghan-election-results-show-Hazara-minority-trumped-dominant-Pashtuns/(page)/2

Problems in one province delay Afghan election; re-vote possible, officials say

By Joshua Partlow

Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, November 24, 2010; 2:23 PM

KABUL - Afghanistan's election commission prolonged the uncertainty of the country's recent parliamentary vote Wednesday when it omitted one province from its announcement of final results, opening the possibility of a costly and complicated re-vote there.
The Independent Election Commission announced final tallies for 33 of Afghanistan's provinces but said technical problems had prevented it from certifying the results in the eastern province of Ghazni. In that province, Taliban violence is believed to have suppressed the vote among the majority-Pashtun population, clearing the way for the election of 11 candidates from the Hazara minority.
Officials with President Hamid Karzai's government had warned that certifying such an outcome could lead to further ethnic strife and embolden the Taliban.
By declining to announce Ghazni's results, the election commission opened itself to the accusation that it had done so under pressure from Karzai's office. Western and Afghan officials said they were not surprised by the commission's decision, which had been widely expected.
Some Karzai aides, as well as election observers, said that a new vote would be held in Ghazni and would have to be funded by the international community. But a member of the election commission, Abdullah Ahmadzai, said the commission still had not decided whether to announce the Ghazni results later or to schedule a new election there.
"So between these two options, we will make one decision, either to certify the result and announce it in one week's time, or a rerun," Ahmadzai told the Associated Press.
The prospect of a new vote raises several potential problems. Two months of protests and allegations of fraud have already passed since the Sept. 18 vote, tarnishing the reputation of election officials and casting doubt on the legitimacy of the new parliament. The Afghan attorney general has threatened to charge two election officials with defaming the nation and has called for a wide-ranging investigation of alleged vote rigging and fraud. Further delay would add to this political turmoil.
In addition, a new vote would offer no guarantees of a different result. The Taliban insurgency remains strong in Ghazni, particularly in Pashtun areas. It would be difficult to send independent election observers there or to secure the voting sites sufficiently to prevent a repeat of Pashtun disenfranchisement.
Other provinces that had problems with fraud and violence could also press for new contests in their jurisdictions if Ghazni has a second balloting.
"There will be some type of process that will take place in Ghazni, likely after winter," said one Western official who works on election issues. "This obviously brings up a whole host of challenges."
Since the ethnically lopsided result in Ghazni became known, Western diplomats have voiced growing concern about the province, citing both the possibility of palace interference and the fear of ethnic strife, and have tried to help broker a political solution.
While acknowledging that changing the vote results wouldn't work, diplomats have suggested that Karzai could appoint Pashtuns from the province to the parliament's upper house, offer them staff positions with the provincial government or persuade some Hazaras to step down for the sake of national unity.
Ghazni is "a real dilemma," said one U.S. official. "The big worry, I think, is Pashtun disenfranchisement in Ghazni. This could tip us to real ethnic issues, whether it is addressed or not."
Shahgul Razaie, a Hazara candidate in Ghazni who according to preliminary tallies would be among the winners, said that the Afghan government should accept the outcome.
"If we believe in democracy, then we have to accept it," she said. "If we have another election, it will have the same result as this one."
But Khial Mohammad Husseini, a Pashtun candidate who fared poorly, said the preliminary results "will encourage Pashtuns to revolt."
"The election commission and others have intentionally interfered and committed fraud to take Pashtuns off the list and bring in other people," he said. "Karzai's doing nothing. It's not his fault, we blame the IEC."
"New elections should take place all over the country, not just in Ghazni," Husseini added. "There was nothing but fraud in the entire country."
Special correspondent Javed Hamdard contributed to this report.

News Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/24/AR2010112400498.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2010112403593

Peaceful - for now - Bamiyan

Peaceful - for now - Bamiyan

By Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan — Poverty is endemic in Bamiyan and the infrastructure barely past medieval, but this peaceful province is about as good as it gets in Afghanistan today.
The road to the pristine Band-e-Amir lakes is being paved. September's parliamentary elections were violence-free here, and business isn't bad at Hassan Ali's craft shop on Bamiyan's single, bustling thoroughfare.
Yet word that the province could be among the first to be "transitioned" away from NATO's security blanket and turned over to Afghan forces has sent tremors of unease through Afghanistan's central highlands.
"As soon as they leave, these different ethnic groups will start fighting each other," said Ali, whose one-room shop stocks scarves, rugs and carpets made by a women's cooperative. "We're Afghans, and we know our people very well. We cannot coexist with each other."
Bamiyan, a land of majestic, snow-capped mountains and potato fields whose harvest has just been picked, is no stranger to bloodshed. Ethnic Hazaras, who are Shiite Muslims and in the majority here, have been long marginalized and oppressed. From 1996 to 2001, they suffered grievously at the hands of the Taliban, ethnic Pashtuns who are conservative Sunni Muslims and are now fighting U.S. and allied forces to regain sway over Afghanistan.
Past trauma and future anxiety underscore the challenge that President Barack Obama and the NATO alliance face in turning over even quiet areas, let alone districts in Afghanistan's south and east where fighting rages.
When alliance leaders meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in Lisbon, Portugal, later this week, the agenda is said to include a transition plan that would see U.S. and allied forces leave Afghanistan by 2014. Districts in Bamiyan, Panjshir and Parwan provinces are at the front of the queue to be handed to internationally trained Afghan national security forces, according to Pentagon officials.
No announcements about timing are expected until next year.
The talk of transition has given pause to inhabitants of Bamiyan.
If "the foreign forces will leave Bamiyan, the (Taliban) opposition will infiltrate the province and the Afghan security forces will not be able to defend the people against them," said Abdul Ahad Farzam, who works in the local offices of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
Farzam spoke in the commission's offices, on a plateau that overlooks Bamiyan's old city in its mountain-flanked valley. Two mass graves lie on the city's outskirts, he said. In one atrocity, Taliban forces massacred at least 170 civilians in Yakaolang valley to the west in January 2001, according to the group Human Rights Watch.
Bamiyan isn't brimming with either foreign or Afghan troops to begin with. A provincial reconstruction team manned mostly by more than 100 soldiers from New Zealand concentrates on much-needed development projects and improving governance. Command of the reconstruction team already has shifted to a civilian.
There are 800 to 900 Afghan national police officers in Bamiyan, according to the provincial police chief, Gen. Mohammad Awaz Naziri, but no permanent Afghan National Army presence.
While residents praise the provincial reconstruction team and most wouldn't welcome its shuttering, their bigger worry is that a broader NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan might empower the Taliban to return here.
Most didn't welcome reports last month of stepped-up negotiations between the Karzai government and Taliban representatives, Farzam said, citing an informal survey the commission undertook.
There are concerns that insurgents are trying to draw a noose around this enclave. The road through Wardak province to the southeast was attacked last year, there's been trouble to the east in a district of Parwan and the Taliban are said to be in a northern district of Bamiyan itself, Kahmard.
"The Taliban will come from Kahmard ... and of course they will come from Wardak as well," said shopkeeper Ali, who bears a passing resemblance to Ho Chi Minh, but with an impish smile. He cited his age as 50.
His shop sits on Bamiyan city's single paved avenue, amid a colorful, noisy collection of stalls, one-room pharmacies, a few restaurants and an Internet cafe. Cars, small trucks, motorcycles and pedestrians vie for space.
The optimistic view, expressed by Western and Afghan officials, is that Bamiyan could be a model for the rest of the country.
Voter turnout in the parliamentary elections was 65 to 70 percent, and Bamiyan had the largest ratio of female voters in the country, said a Western official who wasn't authorized to speak for the record and thus spoke only on the condition of anonymity.
Commerce in Afghanistan traditionally has circumvented the Hazarajat, as the central highlands are known, but in some places, paved roads are slowly replacing rutted mountain tracks. The province is seeking funding for a new airport to replace the gravel airstrip, so that someday tourists might fly here directly from abroad.
Throughout history, the Hazaras "have rarely been granted the opportunity for self-improvement. They see this as their time," the Western official said. But "it's going to require the rest of the country to have stability as well."
In fact, regional officials say that Bamiyan — short-changed on resources for decades by the central government — is being penalized now for its security. Development funds and attention are being showered instead on areas of the country where the Taliban-led insurgency is most active.
"The Afghan government has always had an ethnic agenda," Mohammad Sarwar Jawadi, a parliament member from Bamiyan, said in an interview in Kabul. "They say they want to spend most of the aid money in areas where there is a lot of fighting.
"Outwardly, it looks like a good strategy for spending the aid money. Inwardly, it means all the aid money will be spent in (majority) Pashtun areas."
Habiba Surabi, Bamiyan's provincial governor — and Afghanistan's only female governor — said her budget had declined from $120 million last year to $90 million this year.
"Here, it's really difficult to get a penny of money from the international community," she said in an interview.
Jawadi said the people of Bamiyan "were so hopeful" when international forces arrived in the province. Now, with their departure on the horizon, "it will not make any difference if they stay or if they leave."

(McClatchy special correspondent Habib Zohori contributed to this article.)

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/11/17/103918/in-safe-afghan-province-few-want.html

هزاره ها” يا تورکهاي فراموش شده خون میگریند، دریابیمشان! – تبريزلي باي بک

Source: http://www.11008.baybak.com/il_11008_say_620.azr

Anger in Afghanistan

http://www.thenews.com.pk/10-11-2010/Opinion/14721.htm

Pashtuns strength in Afghan parliament diminished

ISLAMABAD: Pashtuns in Afghanistan have suffered a serious setback after the September 18 parliamentary elections that has reduced their presence in the Afghan National Assembly, preliminary results of the poll show.
According to the results of the second national polls of the Wolesi Jirga – the lower house of parliament – the largest ethnic group of Afghanistan, Pashtuns, have lost their dominance in the parliament.
During an interview with The Express Tribune, Deputy Speaker of the Afghan National Assembly Mirwais Yasini admitted that barely 100 Pashtun candidates could make it to the house of 249 members, which was lower than the 115 members who were elected following the first parliamentary polls in 2005.
Yasini is a Pashtun legislator from the Afghan province Nangarhar that borders Pakistan. He was also one of the candidates who contested the presidential elections in 2004 against Hamid Karzai.
He believes that the war in the Pashtun provinces led to a low voter turnout. As a result, other ethnic groups such as the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras, who are otherwise a minority, won more seats than the Pashtuns in the assembly.
Tajiks and Hazaras inflicted defeat on Pashtuns even in the populated provinces such as Ghazni, Qudooz, and Nangarhar, where they secured more combined seats than the Pashtuns. The Persian-speaking Hazara tribe also won in many constituencies where the Pashtuns have an overriding presence than other minorities.
In the Pashtun-populated provinces, the voter turnout was less than 25 per cent, said Yasini, adding that it was the highest in the Turkmen, Uzbek and Tajik-populated provinces in the north – generally between 50 and 60 per cent. Surprisingly, the turnout also remained low (34 per cent) in the capital Kabul, which is dominated by Tajiks.
According to Yasini, Pashtuns in Afghanistan constitute over 50 per cent of the population, while Tajiks are 25 per cent followed by the Hazaras who are 15 per cent. In terms of the population size, Uzbeks are the smallest. The remaining population comprises Muslim ethnic minorities Turkmen, Baloch, Gujar and Nooristanis and non-Muslim minorities Christians, Hindu, Sikhs and three Afghan Jew families.
Yasini, however, is hopeful that the Pashtun presence may rise in the National Assembly with the ten seats reserved for Pashtun Kochi (nomads). “The Kochis will help maintain a balance in the assembly,” he said, adding that they will be a source of strength for Pashtuns in the lower house.
Until then, political analysts fear that the insufficient numbers of Pashtuns in the assembly may cause problems for President Hamid Karzai, who has been pursuing his ambitious plan to integrate the Taliban in the democratic setup of the country.
Karzai and Taliban represent Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group of Pashtuns and their recent peace talks have been opposed by the Hazara tribe who were subjected to large-scale bloodshed during the Taliban rule in Kabul. The tribe also suffered during the recent clashes with the Kochis.
However, Yasini does not agree with the perception that the defeat of Pashtuns will make Karzai weak.
Afghanistan is still largely divided on ethnic lines and although candidates stand as individuals, some blocs in the parliament are formed by regional power brokers based on their ethnicity.
Others belong to various political parties and factions, many formed by warlords who fought for and against the Soviet occupation of the 1980s and in the subsequent civil war.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2010.

News Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/73976/pashtuns-strength-in-afghan-parliament-diminished/

Afghanistan's new "warrior" hero Rohullah Nikpai

Click to play Click to play Advertisement Rohullah Nikpai's journey from an Iranian refugee camp to Afghanistan's sole Olympic medallist has made him a national hero. By Lyse Doucet BBC News, Kabul At a sports centre in the heart of Kabul, the sound of fighting rings out night and day. But this isn't the war that has torn Afghanistan for the past three decades. Kabul's new warriors are taekwondo fighters. In this ancient martial art of kicking and punching, one of the newest stars is 23-year-old Rohullah Nikpai - the first athlete in Afghan history to win an Olympic medal. "Each time I kick, I make sure I do it as well as I can," the young Nikpai explains. "I'm happiest when my training goes well and I achieve something good for my country." The centre, a concrete block of a room, echoes with the sharp slap of bare feet hitting plastic pads. Some two dozen young men in track suits practise kicking drills, punctuated by determined cries of battle. ROHULLAH NIKPAI - THE FACTS Region: Kabul, Afghanistan Born: 1987 Discipline: Taekwondo Career highlight: Bronze medal at Beijing 2008 - Afghanistan's first Olympic medal In any other country it would be the most ordinary of days at the gym. In Afghanistan, it is a poignant reminder of what even a bit of peace can bring - an all too rare place where young men can focus their energies and where they can even dream. When Nikpai won a bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, it was a golden moment for him, and for Afghanistan. "When our plane touched down in Kabul it was an amazing moment to see so many of my countrymen and women at the airport," he recalls with a wondrous look, still savouring the moment when he became a national hero. Afghans poured into Kabul's Ghazi stadium to celebrate where, not much more than a decade ago, the Taliban notoriously stoned women to death. "It was unbelievable," marvelled Mirwais Bahawi, a member of Afghanistan's Taekwondo Federation who was providing live commentary from Beijing for Afghan television. "Afghans were watching it on TV in more than 17 provinces. Everyone was praying for Rohullah Nikpai and then, happiness blossomed!" At Nikpai's family home in Kabul, a traditional mud brick bungalow inside a walled compound, a cabinet bursts with bright ribbons and shiny medals, including Afghanistan's highest national honours conferred on him by the President, Hamid Karzai. Afghan taekwondo fighter Rohullah Nikpai and his Olympic bronze medal "I like all my medals but now I hope to win gold in London 2012," he declares, adding a customary "insh'allah" - "God willing". He holds his treasured red ribboned Beijing bronze in his hands. But for all the new brightness in his life Nikpai, like most Afghans, still lives with the dark legacy of war that has scattered his family far and wide. His twin sisters and some cousins visiting from Canada join us as we sit cross legged on a carpeted floor to enjoy fragrant rice sprinkled with berries and saffron. Nikpai ended his refugee life in Iran several years ago but much of his extended family still lives outside Afghanistan. Even his fiancé is living in Canada. He beams with happiness when he recounts how she called him in Beijing after his victory. Two years on from that day, the shy, slim Nikpai is still greeted with admiring looks and warm embraces wherever he goes. "I like to see friends and fans but its hard to keep stopping when I am working and on deadline," he confesses. "I think Nikpai is a very good athlete and also a good neighbour. He is friendly with everyone," remarks one Afghan who stands with a gaggle of young men who stop to watch their local hero walk down a narrow lane from his home. At a gleaming Kabul barber shop adorned with posters of footballer David Beckham's array of haircuts, Nikpai gets his barber to fashion his own look: a bit of height on top; close cropped on the sides; sealed with an expert swish of hair gel. The barber tells us it's the new "Chinese style." "No," Nikpai quickly corrects him with a mischievous grin, "its Nikpai style," his style even before he became a champion. Rohullah Nikpai (L) in action at the Beijing Olympics After the years spent in Iran, Nikpai's style is now firmly rooted in Afghanistan. And he is keen to stay despite suggestions that he could benefit from better facilities and coaching elsewhere. "I don't think we need to go abroad for training," he says. "Our athletes are good and we are getting ready for the next competitions." Their training centre benefitted from support from Korea, where taekwondo originates, with a gift of equipment including chest guards and other protective wear. "No one is helping us now," regrets Mirwais Bahawi from the Afghanistan Taekwondo Federation. But he says they will approach countries like Korea, and Japan, as well as Britain for some assistance in the run up to the London 2012 Games. As we watch Nikpai and his fellow athletes I remark to Mirwais Bahawi that it must be difficult to be an Olympic athlete in a country still at war. He answers with a trademark Afghan nonchalance. "It's hard," he admits. "But it's easy for Afghans." Through the door, we can see Nikpai, his back bent, as he pauses for breath in a demanding training regime. Across his T shirt, "Afghanistan" is embossed in bold bright print. News Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympic_games/world_olympic_dreams/9155921.stm