Afghan officials are reporting irregularities and violence – including an attack on voters with ink-stained fingers.
According to Afghan Ariana News, Taliban militants have cut off the ink-stained fingers of 8 Afghan men in Farah, Badghis and Helmand provinces as a punishment for participating in the parliamentary election.
Farid Bakhtawar, the provincial council head of Farah said on October 24 that Taliban militants stopped vehicles in Bala Bolok district and cut off the fingers of four voters.
“The Taliban group has abducted at least 20 civilians in the past four days. They have previously warned people not to participate in the election,” Bakhtawar added.
Meanwhile, local officials in Badghis reportedly noted that the fingers of three voters were cut off by stone and wood.
A local official in Helmand also confirmed that Taliban cut off the finger of a voter in the province, Ariana News reported.
Meanwhile, TOLONews says Taliban militants cut off the finger of Hafizullah, the resident of Gereshk district in Helmand district, who voted in Lashkargah City on Saturday, October 20.
According to head of Bost Hospital Ahmad Zia Hayat, Hafizullah voted on election day in Lashkargah City and, as every other voter in the country, had an ink-stained index finger afterwards.
While on his way home to Gereshk district, the Taliban reportedly stopped his car close to Nahre Saraj district.
Hayat said Hafizullah was taken hostage by the Taliban and held for three days. Before releasing him, the Taliban reportedly chopped off his ink-stained finger.
Following the 2014 presidential elections, the Taliban cut the fingers of 14 people off – after they were found to have voted, according to TOLONews.
Taliban militants, who had threatened to disrupt the vote, launched low-level attacks in which a number of people were killed across the country.
In a statement, Taliban had warned people to “remain far away from the polling stations. lest you should be hurt or killed.”
