Posted on 10/01/2004 4:56:23 PM PDT by Valin
QUETTA, Pakistan - Afghan refugees lined up under tight security in Pakistan Friday to register to vote in their homeland’s historic presidential election, as fears that militants would try to disrupt the process were heightened by a Taleban appeal to Afghans to boycott the vote.
The International Organisation for Migration anticipates 600,000 to 800,000 refugees will register mainly in western Pakistan over the next three days, in what it says is the world’s largest ever out-of-country registration and voting exercise.
“The registration has started smoothly... All indications are that the registration is going well,” IOM spokesman Greg Bearup told AFP.
Some 1.1 million Afghans still live in crude refugee camps in Pakistan and an estimated half a million to two million have settled in its towns and cities.
The majority of registration centers are in western border areas, where fighters loyal to the Afghanistan’s ousted Taleban rulers have been regrouping and orchestrating guerrilla attacks inside Afghanistan.
Concerns that militants would launch attacks to disrupt the registration and voting on October 9 were heightened by a statement issued to newspapers in the northwestern city of Peshawar late Thursday and signed by a purported Taleban spokesman, Hamid Agha.
“We appeal to the people of Afghanistan and particularly the refugees not to support or participate in the procedure, for the sake of their national honour and faith,” it said.
The proximity to insurgent bases along the mountainous frontier, plus threats made by telephone to electoral staff and carried in ”night letters” circulated among refugees have also raised security fears, especially in this southwest city of Quetta.
The Baluchistan provincial capital lies just 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Afghan frontier. Several Taleban commanders are at large in the Quetta region and the Taleban, according to Afghan authorities, uses some of the city’s Koranic schools as recruiting grounds.
The Pakistan government is providing police to protect the registration centers, where the vote will be conducted on October 9, but on the eve of registration Quetta police decided to intensify security.
“We have intensified police patrolling,” Baluchistan province police chief Chaudhry Yaqoob told AFP, declining to explain why patrols were stepped up at the last minute.
Refugees can register in border camps, Quetta, Peshawar and Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital.
The whole scenario is amazing. Our prayers for them. They are indeed very brave. I hope they are wise, too.
Wowee! This would never have happened if algore or (God forbid) sKerry were ever President. This happened because Bush, Blair and Howard along with other coalition members decided to look evil in the face and do something about it. And these are the sweet rewards.
Prairie
And God willing more to come!
Afghan refugees lined up under tight security in Pakistan Friday to register to vote in their homeland’s historic presidential election, as fears that militants would try to disrupt the process were heightened by a Taleban appeal to Afghans to boycott the vote.
The International Organisation for Migration anticipates 600,000 to 800,000 refugees will register mainly in western Pakistan over the next three days, in what it says is the world’s largest ever out-of-country registration and voting exercise.
~*~
Brave Afghans.
Bad news for the Taleban!
Brave Afghans ~ Freedom ~ Bump!
Bump!
Now there is the success story that is not being covered, - it would soundly defeat the left if it was.
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