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Taking of the Afghan Draft Constitution to the Tents |
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An electoral college of about 19000 members in 32 provinces together with the country's president of the transitional administration have selected 500 delegates to the Loya Jirga to debate a draft Afghan constitution which will direct Afghanistan's fate in the 21st century. The delegates include one hundred women. It is planned now to start its deliberations on Sunday, December 13, 2003. This would be the second Loya Jirga, after the toppling down of the Taleban regime in Afghanistan. It will also be one of the most important and most watched Loya Jirgas in the life of the country as it will map out its form of government and will provide conditions for the process of a sound civil system for the country's reconstruction and civil life. Hamid Karzai, the president of the transitional government and Mohammad Zahir Shah, the former King and the "Father of the Nation" are planned to open the Jirga with their speeches. They will both urge the gathering to study and to approve the country's constitution, which calls for a strong presidential system. They will both ask the delegates to do this for ending an era of chaos, uncertainty, war and devastation in Afghanistan and to lay down the foundation for a secure and peaceful country in the heart of Asia. And then the 500 delegates will head for ten separate tents where groups of fifty representatives would start their deliberations of the draft constitution. They will feel secure because of some 5000 International Security Assistance Force troops that would, together with government police, be responsible for their safety. But in actuality things would not be as simple as that. A great threat of the resurgent Taleban will loom above the Jirga's atmosphere. Afghanistan's friends and enemies alike would be up and alert. But what goes under the tents would be more difficult. There have been accusations that certain groups have influenced the selection of delegates to ensure the outcome of the Jirga to their own benefit. There is a lot of politicking that has gone on regarding the selection of the delegates as well as the direction the deliberations should take. All of the above aside, the task of the Constitutional Loya Jirga is enormous and formidable. The Jirga has to find and define the fine line between tradition and modern requirements, between religion and state function, between ethnic, linguistic and religious demands and the need for a united Afghanistan and more important between tradition and equality of rights of all citizens including women. This Jirga, as is the whole case of Afghanistan, is an experiment which is also observed with great interest by social scientists and politicians of the Western world who would like to see the so called democratic values of the West implemented in traditional societies of the so called third world countries. It would serve like a laboratory testing of whether the West could pioneer enforcing change in other countries. The US political establishment is especially interested in the Afghanistan experiment as it finds itself responsible for most of the change there and also in a possible repetition of the experience in Iraq, where it has found itself in some degree of uncalculated trouble. The draft constitution was distributed for public scrutiny a little over a month ago. The Constitutional Drafting Commission has received voluminous comments by people, organizations and international sources. Demonstrations inside the country show that politicking has taken place regarding the draft and that people are not afraid in voicing their opposition. Political parties, by their nature, have already criticized the draft. There are accusations that the draft does not provide for equality of rights, that it does not define certain important issues such as who is a citizen? There have been comments as to the need for clarification of pursuing laws that would regulate certain values of the constitution. And most important of all there is a strong demand by politicians who see a great loss to their power if a president was given the whole and sole power and authority of the government. They fear that such a provision might lead to domination by the majority tribes. There is a push, a strong push, to create the position of a prime minister who would share power with the president. This is what many of the minority groupings see as insurance for their hold on power as well. President Karzai who is strongly hopeful of winning the next year's general elections see this as an action that would limit his powers to implement change in case he wins the elections. He has, therefore proclaimed that if the Jirga recommends such sharing of power, he will withdraw from the race. The Jirga would have to decide if such a sharing of power is possible or beneficial for the life of the country. In Afghan society, historically, it has been very difficult to find a deputy or an assistant really help and assist the head of the department. Under normal conditions Jirga's of this nature have always ratified, without difficulty, the drafts presented to them. May be not this time. There is too much political interest involved and too much at risk for too many groupings to let that happen. It is therefore that long and hard discussions are foreseen. Notwithstanding the enormous cost of the Jirga ($ 50,000 per day) it might even exceed the one-week to ten-day duration that has been assigned to it. The delegates have to iron out many issues besides the post of a prime minister. There is the role of Islam, the role and right of women, the central and peripheral administrative set up, the issue of a national language or national languages, the issues of education (which was free throughout in the recent times) and health (free and universal hospital treatment) and many other minor points that the Jirga would come across and would have to find not only solutions to, but appropriate wording to include in the constitution. Such is the task confronting the 500 Afghans who go under the tent and tents to map out a future for their country. It is a hard task. It requires not only educated and experienced minds, but also kind and gentle nature. What would come out from under these tents would determine whether the Afghan experience was a success! 12/12/03 |