Peace, election should not interrupt each other: FFEFA

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (Pajhwok): Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FFEFA) on Wednesday said peace and election were national processes and they should not be turned to obstacles to each other.

FFEFA organized a conference about peace and democracy in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of northern Balkh province today.

Shams Rasikh, supervisory and evaluation in charge of FFEFA told Pajhwok Afghan News that peace and election were two national processes and they should not interrupt each other.

He said that FFEFA launched a new survey about protection of democratic values in peace process and the results would be shared soon with the Afghan government, international community and the US.

He said FFEFA tried to collect views of civil society rights activists, Islamic scholars and some politicians about the peace process.

About the debacle of peace negotiations between the US and the Taliban, he said that such problems happened during peace talks in many other countries as well.

Rasikh said they hoped the talks would start again soon. He said conflict should be stopped during peace talks and a ceasefire should be agreed.

He added upcoming presidential election should hold on time and transparently.

Mulavi Abdul Hanan Munib, an Islamic scholar who also attended the conference, told Pajhwok that all sides should show their good will for peace and stop war.

He said election should be suspended for some time if it helps pave way for peace in the country.

However, Munib said that the Afghan people should get prepared for the election process after talks between the US and Taliban failed.

He said Afghanistan in current time needed election and a legitimate government.

A women’s rights activist, Pashton Sharara, asked politicians to put aside their personal disputes and decide on favour of national interests.

She said that politicians forgot their national interests and were gone deep into confronting each other.

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