Reg: No 352 Volume No. 3980 Monday September 17, 2018 Sunbla 26, 1397 www.outlookafghanistan.net Price: 20/-Afs Quote of the Day Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. Albert Einstein PRESIDENT GHANI www.thedailyafghanistan.com Email: thedailyafghanist[email protected] Phone: 0093 (799) 005019/777-005019 Add: In front of Habibia High School, District 3, Kabul, Afghansitan NATURE KABUL - Ghani made the remarks during a meeting with principals of private schools in Kabul on Saturday evening, the presidential spokesman said on Sunday Recently, suicide bombers targeted a private education centre and a sports club in the west of Kabul, killing and wounding more than 200 people. Private schools’ officials slammed the recent attacks were against national unity. They promised no one would be al- lowed to fan ethnic or sectarian divisions among Afghans. They urged the president to order a reduction in taxes, sim- plification of private school regulations, scrapping of non- essential licences and availability of textbooks through the ministry concerned. In a statement, the presidential spokesman said the private school representatives also demanded a cut in power tariff for training centers and inclusion of three teachers in Human Resource Council. Ghani agreed: “The attack in the west of Kabul was an assault on Afghan national and religious unity.” Major changes had been made in Kabul’s security leadership to improve the situ- ation, he added. The president asked school administrators to evaluate threats in coordination ...(More on P4)...(1) KABUL - Some Meshrano Jirga or Senate mem- bers on Sunday joined the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Ministry of Interior in lashing out at protestors for closing IEC provincial offices. The senators said if the government could not in- troduce the biometric system ahead of the election day, it should satisfy political parties. Supporters of the Coalition for Salvation of Af- ghanistan on Saturday closed the provincial In- dependent Election Commission (IEC) offices in Kandahar, Balkh and Herat provinces. Their demands include allowing representatives of political parties to monitor the conduct of elec- tions, changing the current Single None-Transfer- rable Vote (SNTV) system to a transferable vote system and a fresh voter registration through bio- metric system Yesterday, a senior Ministry of Interior official or- dered the police to use force if necessary in main- taining security of election offices. Senior deputy interior minister for security Akhtar Mohammad Ibrahimi in a video clip said no one has the right to close election offices. ...(More on P4)...(2) KABUL - The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has slammed the closure of its provincial offices as an act against the law and na- tional interest, urging the government to move against rampaging demonstrators. On Saturday, protesters un- der the banner of the Grand Political Alliance of Afghan- istan closed IEC offices in Kandahar, Balkh and Herat provinces. They warned of keeping the offices shut un- til their demands were ac- cepted. In a statement, the commis- sion said civil and peaceful protests were the right of every citizen, and that the poll panel respected peace demonstrations. However, it added, the protestors should not damage the electoral process. A number of supporters of political parties and groups threatened to shut the gates of provincial IEC offices to disrupt the election process, the statement alleged. The IEC said protest organ- isers would be held respon- sible for such acts, including the closure of its offices, in future. It called on the gov- ernment to enforce its legal obligations and ensure the security of the commission’s branches. The panel reaffirmed its commitment to holding free and transparent elec- tions and paving the way for every citizen to cast his/her vote without any pressure or coercion. Under Article 156 of the con- stitution, the IEC shall be es- tablished to administer and supervise all kinds of elec- tions as well as refer to the public opinion in accord- ance with the provisions of the relevant law. A day earlier, the senior deputy interior minister for security said in a video clip that no one reserved the right to close election of- fices. The official ordered police to use force, if neces- sary, in order maintain secu- rity of election offices. Akhtar Mohammad Ibrahimi said the government had come to power with people’s mandate and the masses alone had the right to pro- test in accordance with the law. He asked political par- ties and groups to register their complaints through le- gal means. On the other hand, presiden- tial spokesman Shah Hus- sain Murtazawi wrote on his Facebook page that those creating hurdles to the elec- tion process were support- ers of Taliban.(Pajhwok) Free, Fair Polls is Government’s Responsibility: Senate IEC Slams Closure of Provincial Offices by Protestors Kabul’s Security Leadership Reshuffled KABUL - The Independent Election Com- mission (IEC) on Sunday announced pre- liminary voter lists from Farah, Zabul, IEC Announces Voters Lists from 4 Provinces UAE Participates in Heart of Asia - Istanbul Process Meeting in Afghanistan Sar-i-Pul and Panjshir prov- inces, rejecting thousands of ap- plications over fraud or wrong information. Addressing re- porters in Kabul, IEC head Abdul Badae Sayyad said from the total 37,839 peo- ple applying for registration as the voter, 24,356 applications were rejected over repeated registration, pro- viding wrong information, age and lack of date of birth. He said the process of feed- ing voter’s information to the database system was under- way and so far eight million voters had been inducted into the system. The IEC chief said in Sar-i- Pul province 18,559 persons were removed out of 156,542, in Zabul 2,052 removed out of 68,009, in Farah 2,529 re- moved out of 68986, in Pan- shir 3,513 removed out of 78,302 persons. He said the list of remaining 30 provinces would be re- leased soon. According to the IEC, so far over 9.5 million people have registered as voters nation- wide. (Pajhwok) KABUL - The UAE participated in a meeting of the Heart of Asia - Istanbul Process in the Afghan capital, Kabul. The country’s delegation included Ahmed Al Hay Al Hameli, Director of the West Asia Ad- ministration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Hamad Rashid Al Habsy, Head of the South Asia Ad- ministration of the Ministry. In her speech at the start of the meeting, Adeela Raz, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Af- ghanistan, stressed the importance of the pro- cess in supporting peace in Afghanistan. The Istanbul Process aims to cover topics re- lated to supporting the relations between Afghanistan, its neighbouring countries and Central Asia, as well as to promote trade and achieve peace and stability. The participants at the meeting discussed means of supporting Afghanistan under the process, as well as promoting cooperation, consultations and coordination be- tween its member countries to combat terrorism. In the UAE’s speech, Al Hameli affirmed the nation’s full support for politi- cal reconciliation and the peace process led by the Afghan Government, while urging all segments of the Afghan community to assist in ensuring that these efforts succeed, which is the appropriate step to guarantee the future of Afghanistan. He added that achieving security and peace in Central Asia is the key to achieving global stability and is a priority of the UAE’s policy, which is based on the United Nations Charter and International Law. He went on to say that achieving peace in Afghanistan is necessary to ensuring stabil- ity and prosperity in the region while high- lighting the importance of the participation of the international community in resolving the country’s security situation. The UAE welcomes the declaration of Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan, regarding the extension of the ceasefire period with the Taliban, while noting that the UAE supports President Ghani ...(More on P4)...(3) KABUL - The National Procurement Commis- sion (NPC) discussed ten contracts and approved after discussion eight of them worth 821 million afghanis, a statement from the president’s media office said. President Ashraf Ghani presided over the NPC meeting at his office on Saturday evening, the statement from the Presidential Palace said. The meeting discussed ten contracts and after discussion, approved eight of them worth 821 billion afghanis, the statement added. The contracts approved were related to the min- istries of higher education, public health, public works and defense besides refinery projects. The NPC also approved construction of an 82-kilometer portion of the Qaisar-Laman road and the second section of designing consulta- tion services projects. The NPC okayed revising Noori Fiber 43 net- work sites and approved a procurement con- tract for the Afghan telecom firm’s SIM card and credit card and construction of a surround- ing wall for special operations military head- quarters. (Pajhwok) NPC Approves Contracts Worth 821m Afghanis President Ashraf Ghani says serious steps have been taken to improve the security situation in Kabul, pledging facilitation and reforms of private schools.
