zimv20
Sep 16, 2005, 07:07 PM
link (http://nytimes.com/2005/09/16/international/asia/16cnd-afghan.html?hp&ex=1126929600&en=528c3dc304ab666c&ei=5094&partner=homepage)
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept. 16 - With two days to go until Afghanistan's parliamentary election, there was no reprieve to violence. A seventh election candidate was shot dead today in the country's restive south, a roadside bomb killed an Afghan interpreter working with the American military and a blast injured two Canadian peacekeepers on patrol.
Abdul Hadi, a candidate for the 249-member Parliament from Helmand Province, just west of here, was awakened early this morning by a knock on his door in the remote Hazajoft district, near the Pakistani border, and shot dead at his doorstep, a police official said by telephone.
His killers ran into the cornfields, and there were no arrests, said Col. Mohamed Ayub, the deputy police chief of the province. Whether he was killed by Taliban fighters, who have vowed to disrupt the elections, or whether his killers had been dispatched by Mr. Hadi's political rivals or personal enemies remained a mystery, Mr. Ayub said.
His killing came hours after the official end of campaigning at midnight Thursday. Election officials imposed a 48-hour noncanvassing period to allow voters to reflect on their choice for Parliament and provincial councils before going to the polls on Sunday.
About 12 million voters are registered for these landmark elections and 5,800 candidates are in the running.
The period leading up to the election has been clouded by a steady drumbeat of violence and ongoing arguments about the candidacy of former warlords who continue to wield considerable influence over ordinary Afghans. To date, 47 candidates have been disqualified, mostly for having links to illegal armed groups. Human Rights Watch, in a report released this week, raised the alarm about what it called an "underlying climate of fear."
(more)
i see that Reconstruction Project #1 is coming along swimmingly.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept. 16 - With two days to go until Afghanistan's parliamentary election, there was no reprieve to violence. A seventh election candidate was shot dead today in the country's restive south, a roadside bomb killed an Afghan interpreter working with the American military and a blast injured two Canadian peacekeepers on patrol.
Abdul Hadi, a candidate for the 249-member Parliament from Helmand Province, just west of here, was awakened early this morning by a knock on his door in the remote Hazajoft district, near the Pakistani border, and shot dead at his doorstep, a police official said by telephone.
His killers ran into the cornfields, and there were no arrests, said Col. Mohamed Ayub, the deputy police chief of the province. Whether he was killed by Taliban fighters, who have vowed to disrupt the elections, or whether his killers had been dispatched by Mr. Hadi's political rivals or personal enemies remained a mystery, Mr. Ayub said.
His killing came hours after the official end of campaigning at midnight Thursday. Election officials imposed a 48-hour noncanvassing period to allow voters to reflect on their choice for Parliament and provincial councils before going to the polls on Sunday.
About 12 million voters are registered for these landmark elections and 5,800 candidates are in the running.
The period leading up to the election has been clouded by a steady drumbeat of violence and ongoing arguments about the candidacy of former warlords who continue to wield considerable influence over ordinary Afghans. To date, 47 candidates have been disqualified, mostly for having links to illegal armed groups. Human Rights Watch, in a report released this week, raised the alarm about what it called an "underlying climate of fear."
(more)
i see that Reconstruction Project #1 is coming along swimmingly.
