UNITED NATIONS: The top United Nations official in Afghanistan has strongly condemned the punishment doled out by the Taliban to nearly a dozen people who had their index fingers cut off after voting in the presidential run-off.

“Like millions of their countrymen and women, these ordinary Afghans were exercising their fundamental right to determine the future path of their country through voting and not through violence and intimidation,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ján Kubiš, said in a statement on Monday.

He added that by voting, they had already defeated “those who promote terror and violence”.

The 11 victims, who were attacked after casting ballots in the western province of Herat, were interviewed by human rights monitors from the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA).

A finger dipped in ink is proof that the person voted, and meant to prevent voters from casting more than one ballot.

Kubiš, who heads UNAMA, said such “inhuman cruelty against Afghan civilians” are manifestations of weakness and desperation.

“They know they have lost the support of the Afghan people,” he added.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2014