PAKISTAN: No provision for Afghan refugees to vote

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ISLAMABAD, 1 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - Saeed Agha is a middle-aged Afghan mechanic living in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, who listens avidly to radio news broadcasts about the forthcoming parliamentary elections in his homeland. The programmes are transmitted in Dari, Pashto and Urdu to the millions of Afghans residing in neighbouring Pakistan but it's unlikely Agha or many of the others will get a chance to participate in the historic poll.

"I am sitting in Islamabad. How can I vote for someone in Baghlan [an Afghan province]?" he asked.

Many other Afghan refugees living in Pakistan are frustrated that they won’t be able to vote either.

"I do not have much money to cover my travel expenses to go to Afghanistan," said Mahmood, a shopkeeper living in an informal Afghan settlement on the outskirts of the capital.

Some 1.35 million Afghans in Pakistan, aged 18 years and over, are eligible to vote out of a total of over three million, according to a recent census conducted in March 2005 by the Pakistani authorities in conjunction with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The electoral process was very different for the Afghan presidential election in October 2004. Then the International Organization for Migration (IOM) arranged 'Out-of-Country Registration and Voting' (OCRV) for Afghans in both Iran and Pakistan on behalf of the Afghan Joint Election Management Body (JEMB) and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

According to IOM, just under 600,000 Afghans voted in Pakistan in the Afghan presidential election, representing 80 percent of the 738,000 who had registered to vote.

In Iran, where there was no pre-registration process, 260,000 refugees participated in the polls, amounting to about half of the eligible voters in the country, according to Peter Erben, director of IOM's OCRV programme, speaking in Islamabad last year when he gave details of the final ballot.

The Pakistani authorities were in favour of Afghans in Pakistan voting in this election too but they said Kabul had not endorsed the idea.

"We proposed this time as well to make voting arrangements for the Afghans living in Pakistan. However, looking at the logistical challenges, the Afghan government didn't favour it," said Dr Imran Zeb, director of the Chief Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees (CCAR), the state body dealing with Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Sheikha Ali, head of IOM in Pakistan, confirmed that her organisation had not received any request from Kabul to arrange voting for Afghans in Pakistan. "Last year, the out-of-country Afghan voting for the presidential election had been arranged at the request of the Afghan government. But, this year for parliamentary elections, the Afghan government has not asked us to arrange anything," she said.

The JEMB in Kabul said there were no arrangements for Afghans outside the country to vote because the forthcoming poll was a vote for regional representatives to sit in parliament.

"Because this year’s election is constituency-based, refugees outside the country would have to go to their provinces if they want to vote. To have outside country voting, you have to have special seats for refugees in parliament but the Afghan government has not chosen to do this," Bronwyn Curran, spokeswoman for the JEMB, said in Kabul.

Though Afghans living in Islamabad still want to vote and will miss out on the celebratory election environment, they have little faith that the election results will deliver any positive changes to war-ravaged Afghanistan, or that the process will bring any real improvements to the lives of ordinary people.

"Last year, we voted for Karzai [Afghan President] but what did he do for us? What can he do for us refugees who have been living in exile for the last 25 years and still with no hope of going back," an Afghan customer outside Agha's small shop said.

More important to most refugees than elections, is the establishment of stability, peace and the beginning of economic development in Afghanistan.

"No Afghan would want to stay outside [Afghanistan], should the country show any sign of recovery," another man quickly added.

[ENDS]