An unspecified number of residents of Mazar-e Sharif, the provincial capital of Balkh, staged a demonstration on 10 October to demand the release of suspects facing charges in the case of slain parliamentary candidate Mohammad Ashraf Ramazan, Mazar-e Sharif-daily "Baztab" reported on 11 October.
Ramazan, a leading People's Council candidate, was gunned down in Mazar-e Sharif on 27 September, leading to protests in Balkh and Kabul in which some people accused Balkh Governor Ata Mohammad Nur of involvement in the killing (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 and 5 October 2005). Police sent from Kabul subsequently arrested as many as four suspects, but the 10 October protesters claimed the authorities have the wrong men.
The killing of Ramazan, who was poised to win a parliamentary seat, has become an ethnically charged case. AT
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