A review of personal documents by Kabul Now suggests that the incumbent commissioner of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), Haneef Danishyar, has committed age fabrication on his ID card to become eligible to secure the current position at the Afghan election commission.
Contrary to the Tazkira, Afghan national ID card, he submitted to the selection committee assigned to shortlist applicants for membership of the IEC, copy of his original Tazkira obtained by Kabul Now reveals that he was 33 years old—two years younger than the required age by the election law—at the time of being hired as IEC commissioner.
The article 12 of Afghanistan Election Law clearly stipulates in its 15 clause that anyone who nominates him/herself for membership of the commission “shall have completed at least 35 years of age.”
Talking to Kabul Now, Mr. Danishyar said he was recognized eligible after his identity and educational documents were reviewed and approved by the selection committee. Commenting on his Tazkira, Danishyar said that his date of birth was the same in both; in the original and duplicate copies of his Tazkira.
According to Danishyar, he has got a duplicate copy of his Tazkira around 13 years ago after the original copy was lost.
Moreover, review of the documents discloses that Danishyar used his original Tazkira seven years after the issuance of his duplicate Tazkira to apply for a job announced with the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) though the duplicate copy of his Tazkira has been issued in 1383 solar year.
Holding more than one different copies of Tazkira (original and duplicates) in the same time is illegal in Afghanistan.
Résumé forms of the IDLG employees also suggest that the current IEC commissioner was born in 1364 solar year, not in 1362—exposing a two-year fabrication of age in his Tazkira.
Kabul Now has found that Danishyar has so far obtained three different passports with different dates of birth (two service passports and one diplomatic passport). His first service passport (S0015489) issued on September 24, 2012, reads that he was born on February 05, 1985. The second service passport (S0065984) issued on November 28, 2018, though confirms the same date in Gregorian calendar, but it has one day difference, in Persian calendar, than the date provided in the first passport.
Although Danishyar refused to give details about his service passports, he confirmed the details registered with his diplomatic passport. The diplomatic passport (D0007992) issued on July 23, 2019, states that he was born on February 05, 1984.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the issuing authority, confirmed to Kabul Now that the service passport (S0015489) belongs to Hanif Danishyar. He added that the age details of the passport holder was provided by the applicant authority.
Danishyar, however, expressed that he could not find his service passports to comment whether those obtained by Kabul Now belong to him or not.
In the first service passport, Danishyar is 34 years old at the time of swearing in as commissioner of the IEC on March 04, 2019. In the diplomatic passport issued after his selection as IEC commissioner, however, he is 35 years old while swearing in as member of the election commission.
Study of the commissioner’s education records with the Ministry of Education and Sociology Faculty of Kabul University, and an identity verification form filled in for the Roshan Telecommunication Company to receive a SIM card further reveals that he was either born in 1365 or 1364, not in 1362.
Afghanistan Central Civil Registration Authority (ACCRA), however, refrained to comment and provide details on the commissioner’s Tazkira. The authority is mainly responsible for issuing Tazkiras to Afghan citizens.
Danishyar told Kabul Now that he has not officially applied for amending his personal details in his Tazkira, but cross-checking of his two Tazkiras shows that the commissioner’s age has been registered two years older than his actual age—most likely to become eligible to secure membership of the IEC.
Danishyar described any misrepresent of his age and Tazkira details as likely mistakes committed by the ACCRA.
As predicted in the 1st clause of article 436 of Afghanistan penal code, forging and changing the date of officially ratified documents is a criminal act.
The article 437 of the penal code predicts that anyone who commits forgery shall be sentenced to medium imprisonment.
Although there is no evidence supporting a possible forgery of the documents by the IEC commissioner, there are reportedly different cases of corruption and bribery within the ACCRA of issuing fake ID cards and bringing changes in individual’s personal records, particularly to their ages.
Review of Danishyar’s personal documents further discloses that his education records were not properly assessed by the assigned selection committee when he had applied for the past of commissionership at the IEC.
