IEC denies Ghani observers assaulted sever staff

KABUL (Pajhwok): Rumors about physically attacking workers of the central server of Independent Election Commission (IEC) by observers of Ashraf Ghani are found to be false.

The rumors were shared on Facebook by Mohammad Mohaqiq and a number of other people.

According to reports, only one observer of Ashraf Ghani had a physical dispute with a worker of IEC, not with anyone on the server of the commission.

A number of other Facebook users claimed the physical clash happened between observers of Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah’s teams while a verbal dispute occurred one of Ghani’s observers and an IEC worker.

Mohammad Mohaqiq, a member of Abdullah’s ticket, in a Facebook post on Friday said, “After the defeat of (Ghani) is approved, his observers today physically attacked workers of the IEC central server.”

The post got around 2,000 likes and 28 comments while 124 other people shared it.

Bashir Ahmad Qasani, a journalist who is also active on Facebook, also shared Mohaqiq’s post on his wall.

In comment to the post, Qasani said, “Mohaqiq reports that biometric system workers of IEC have been attacked.”

Fahim Fitrat, another Facebook user, shared two separate posts about Mohaqiq’s statements.

In one of his posts, Fitrat said, “An observer of Ghani was expelled from IEC after he fought with workers of the commission.”

In another post, he said, “The defeat of (Ghani’s) team is becoming real with each passing day. One of his observer insulted an election worker who was counting Paktia votes and the situation turned violent but was controlled later.”

“The situation is currently normal, the observer of Ghani was expelled from the commission and he is under security investigation…”

A number of Facebook users also left comments on the post. Some supported Abdullah and others supported Ghani.

Mohammad Fida Karimi Farkhari, one of Facebook users in his comment to this post said, “They are facing defeat, this has made them mentally ill, that is why they are doing so.”

Ahmad Javed Irrfani wrote on his Facebook page, “Hope one day their chief will also be expelled from Afghanistan.”

But a number of other Facebook users made different comments toward the ‘Stability and Partnership’ electoral team.

Omid Rashtin said it was he, he would not have been seen in public for days because of shame.

Sadaf Yousufi also reacted to the Stability and Partnership electoral team and wrote, “It said 400 memory cards were missing, can you imagine what the new technique the opposing team used to cancel Abdullah’s votes. “

Nasratrullah Mehrzad, a Facebook user, rejected the rumors if the‘State Builder’ electoral team had attacked the central server or biometric staff of the IEC, calling it completely baseless.

Today, work of the election bodies was stopped for almost half an hour as result of a verbal clash involving an observer of Jabha-e-Melli Nejat but later the situation returned normal and currently observers and workers were busy doing their activities. “So rumors on social media have no reality.”

Sayed Baqir Azimi, a spokesman for the ‘State Builder’ electoral team, told Pajhwok that such clashes were common and sometimes a little verbal clash happened with Stability and Partnership) electoral team.

He said they had never attacked the IEC sever under any name.

 What’s Pajhwok fact check outcome?

Pajhwok has learnt about Mohammad Mohqiq’s remarks that the ‘State Builder’ electoral team’s observers physically attacked central server’s staff was untrue because IEC claims it was a small verbal clash.

An official at the IEC, who wished to go unnamed, told Pajhwok on Friday that an observer of the ‘State Builder’ team verbally clashed with an employee of the central sever.

Pajhwok Afghan News in its new style of reporting investigates propaganda disseminated regarding election and after its investigation shows the people that published propaganda falls under which categories of the following: Correct, half correct, wrong, half wrong.

After investigation, it emerged this story falls under Mostly True category.

Zarghoona Salehi

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