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POLITICAL PROGRAM of ABDUL-QADIR IMAMI "GHORI"

(Source: BBC Monitoring International Reports from Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mashhad, in Dari 1330 gmt 23 Jul 04)



Imami Ghowri, leader of the Peace and National Unity Party and a presidential candidate, has described the rules set by the Joint Election Management Body for candidates to run in the presidential and parliamentary election as illegal and biased. He said his party platform enshrined social justice, people's rights and a democratic Afghanistan within the framework of Islamic principles. Following is an excerpt from an interview with Imami Ghowri, broadcast by Iranian radio on 23 July:

Presenter According to a presidential candidate in Afghanistan regulations that have been issued by the Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body JEMB are contradictory to the Afghan constitution.

Esteemed Abdol Qader Imami Ghowri, a candidate for president, has told our correspondent in an interview that some candidates are enjoying every facility for advertising, while others are deprived of minimal facilities. Here is the interview:

Correspondent Esteemed Abdol Qader Imami Ghowri, the Peace and National Unity Council of Afghanistan has been registered as a political party and you as the leader of this political party are a candidate for president. Could you please tell us what are the party's aims and what were the reasons for your candidacy for president in Afghanistan?

Ghowri In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. You know about the activities carried out by the Peace and National Unity Council of Afghanistan during the period of jihad and resistance, and now it has been officially recognized under the name the Afghan Peace and National Unity Party by the Afghan government, the Justice Ministry of the transitional state, and has been registered.

The main aims of the party are: first, to ensure permanent peace and security in Afghanistan. Second, to ensure democracy in the framework of the Islamic word indistinct principles and accepted traditions in Afghanistan. Third, to ensure social justice in Afghanistan and an Afghanistan governed by the law. It also wants decisions to be taken by the people and the government to be controlled by the people; it wants women's rights in Afghanistan to be ensured in the framework of Islam and according to the UN charter.

It defends human rights and fights against drugs and terrorism in Afghanistan. We should ensure the rights of the citizens in Afghanistan. We want ethnic, racial, linguistic and party privileges to end; national unity to be ensured; arms to be collected and people's security to be ensured. As you know, not only does no-one feel secure in rural areas, in the most remote towns, districts and villages of Afghanistan, but no-one feels secure in Kabul itself.

Passage omitted: he singles out different crimes such as kidnapping and theft

Also the Peace and National Unity Party wants work to be given to those who are capable of doing the work, and those who are incapable to be dismissed from government posts and government organizations. It wants administrative corruption, which unfortunately has reached its zenith and has never been as prevalent as now, and bribery and moral corruption to be stopped.

Passage omitted: repeat of the previous paragraph

Correspondent Esteemed Imami Ghowri, as a presidential candidate in Afghanistan, what is your opinion on security issues, election conditions and the election process?

Ghowri As you know, there is no security in Zabol, Kandahar, Nangarhar, Paktia and Konar provinces. There is no security in the east of the country So, security is worsening every day. It concerns people that possibly elections will not be held. Also, there have been many complaints that the Joint Election Management Body JEMB do not words indistinct in villages or in districts.

Moreover, we can see that the situation in Kabul itself is worsening day by day. Also, the conditions set for the presidential and parliamentary candidates by the JEMB itself contradict the constitution.

These conditions are not according to the law. The constitution says every Afghan's parents, both mother and father, should be over 40, should not have not been sentenced for being a traitor to the nation and for any other crime, and should not have not been deprived by a court of his or her civil rights.

Other conditions established by the JEMB such as that presidential candidates should submit 10,000 copies of voting cards and 50,000 afghanis, and parliamentary candidates should submit 5,000 copies of voting cards and some thousand afghanis, all these conditions contravene the law, and have caused complaints by all candidates and lawyers. Finally they asked the president, Mr Hamed Karzai himself. He said he had a new opinion and he would revise the issue.

I Ghowri am now also stressing this issue. When I received my card, I said that I was a presidential candidate and that presidential candidates are obliged to uphold the constitution and should act upon it. Although I have the ability to collect copies of 20,000 election cards, I am not going to collect even a copy of one card as this goes against the constitution, and any law that is opposed to the constitution will not have legality and validity.

Passage omitted: Ghowri says no-one has the right to make amendments to the constitution except the Loya Jerga .

So, it is against the principles of justice when one candidate alone - the president - establishes commissions, approves them, uses any resources and has access to all facilities, and other candidates should be deprived completely. If the government does not revise the issue, and if they the government do not act according to the constitution and if double standards exist so we realize that these elections are false, just a formality and a show. They are not fair and real elections, and under this pretext the majority are to be sidelined and removed from the ring, so we are revising the issue and all presidential candidates will announce their positions.