67,000 Afghan voters in Hazara

Published October 9, 2004

HARIPUR, Oct 8: Some 67,000 Afghan refugee voters in the Hazara division would exercise their right of franchise in the first-ever Afghan presidential election on Saturday, sources in the International Organization for Migration said.

The sources at the local office of the IOM said that during the recent campaign 47,000 voters were registered from the Haripur district and 20,000 from the Mansehra district.

They said facilities would be provided to ensure that maximum number of voters took part in the democratic process in a peaceful manner. Polling stations and booths had been set up in the refugee camps as well, the source said.

Meanwhile, Haji Qasim Khan, brother of Jalalabad's former governor Haji Qadeer Khan, told a corner meeting that interim President Hamid Karzai was the only leader who enjoyed international backing with which he could put the country on the track of normalcy and development.