(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News) JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Public representatives and civil society activists in eastern provinces on Sunday asked the president to cancel a written exam taken last month for e-Tazkira program because the test was €˜unfair€™.
Speakers at a a protest gathering in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, warned if the test wasn€™t cancelled, they wouldn€™t apply for national electronic ID cards and would also not participate in future elections.
They said the exam, taken on May 5 by the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission of Afghanistan (IARCSC) in Kabul, wasn€™t acceptable to them.
The written test was taken from 6,500 applicants and only 490 of them who scored high marks were shortlisted for interview.
Kunar provincial council head, Haji Mohammad Sapi, said the central government had always meted out €˜step-motherly treatment€™ to eastern people and the exam was an obvious example of that. He demanded the exam be taken again and everyone should choose mother tongue.
Meanwhile, Nuristan provincial council chief, Sadullah Painda Zoy, said the exam was injustice with Pashtun tribesmen, stressing the exam should be revoked.
Nangarhar provincial council member, Dr. Nasir Kamawal, said the test wasn€™t acceptable to eastern people and it should be conducted again. He called upon the president to conduct the test on zonal level in order everyone enjoyed their right.
Civil society activists also held similar views, claiming some circles were out strike disunity in such a national process. They also criticized IARCSC head being biased towards Pashtuns.
The test results, sent by IARCSC to Pajhwok Afghan News, show about half of the participants were from five provinces.
Of 490 individuals who passed the test mostly were from Kabul, Ghazni, Maidan Wardak, Badakhshan, and Bamyan provinces. A small number were from Kandahar, Farah, Paktika and Badghis provinces.
There was no one from Zabul, Nimroz and Nuristan provinces in the results report and only Dari language was used in the test.
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