KABUL - Gen. Ata Mohammad Noor, the governor of northern Balkh province of Afghanistan, has warned to boycott the election process if the ongoing vote audit proves biased and Abdullah is not declared winner of the election.

“If the vote recount is one-sided or fraudulent, we will not bow down and accept the results,” Noor told Washington Post.

He said in an interview, “We do not want a crisis, but we will defend the rights of our people. We will have a big civil uprising. We will occupy government buildings and institutions. We will boycott the process, and we will not recognize the next government because it will have no legitimacy.”

Noor is an influential political figure in Afghanistan and is a close ally of Dr. Abdullah Abdullah in presidential election.

He also added that the foreign-backed audit process was not trustable and that he sees himself as an avenger of the millions of Afghans who voted for Abdullah.

“Everyone knew he [Abdullah] won the honorable vote, but the triangle of the government, [Karzai’s] palace and election commission did fraud. We accepted the option of the recount, but it must be fair. Otherwise the sacrifice of the voters will have been in vain. If it is not fair, if there is still fraud, we will not accept it,” Noor said.

His comments came a day after presidential contender Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai rejected to share power in the next government of Afghanistan, saying, “Dual authority is not possible.”

Noor made similar threats back in June following the release of preliminary vote results for the runoff election which put Dr. Ghani in the lead.

He said the announcement of the vote results without cleaning of fraudulent votes has paved the way for the announcement of a parallel government, and called on supporters of Dr. Abdullah Abdullah to use all force and options and prepare for widespread civil movements to defend from their votes.

Washington expressed grave concern regarding the suggestion of a parallel government in Afghanistan and warned that any action to seize power illegally in Afghanistan would lead to the end of US financial and security support to Afghanistan. (KP)