Loya jirga

A loya jirga (Pashto: لويه جرګه‎, "grand assembly") is a special type of jirga that is mainly organized for choosing a new head of state in case of sudden death, adopting a new constitution, or to settle national or regional issue such as war. It predates modern-day written or fixed-laws and is mostly favored by the Pashtun people but to a lesser extent by other nearby groups that have been influenced by Pashtuns (historically known as Afghans).

In Afghanistan, loya jirgas have been reportedly organized since at least the early 18th century when the Hotaki and Durrani dynasties rose to power.

History

The ancient Aryan tribes, who are hypothesized to have spoken Proto-Indo-Iranian, came down in intermittent waves from Central Asia and Afghanistan. They practiced a sort of jirga-system with two types of councils – simite and sabhā. The simite (the summit) comprised elders and tribal chiefs. The king also joined sessions of the simite. Sabhā was a sort of rural council. In India it is referred to as Samiti and Sabha. The Indian parliament however is divided into Rajya Sabha (Senate) and Lok Sabha (House of Representatives) after the Westminster model. The Panchayat Samiti is instead used for rural councils.

2003 loya jirga

A 502-delegate loya jirga convened in Kabul, Afghanistan, on December 14, 2003, to consider the proposed Afghan Constitution. Originally planned to last ten days, the assembly did not endorse the charter until January 4, 2004. As has been generally the case with these assemblies, the endorsement came by way of consensus rather than a vote. Afghanistan's last constitution was drafted for the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in November 1987. Because of strife within the assembly, the 2003 Loya jirga was dubbed, by some Afghans, the "loya jagra" ("big fight").

Drafting the Constitution

The Bonn Agreement of December 2001 required Afghanistan to draft and adopt a new constitution within 2 years. In October 2002, Interim President Hamid Karzai appointed a nine-member Constitutional Drafting Commission, chaired by then Vice-President Nematullah Shahrani. Over the next six months, this body drafted a new constitution, based largely on the 1964 Afghan constitution. The initial draft, written primarily by Abdul Salam Azimi (who would become Chief Justice of Afghanistan's Supreme Court in 2006) was not the subject of in-depth political consultation. In April 2003, Interim President Karzai passed a decree appointing a new 35-member Constitutional Commission and laying out a public consultation process. This commission travelled widely throughout the country and reworked the draft, which was not released to the public until November 2003, only weeks before the Constitutional Convention (Loya Jirga) was scheduled to begin. This process was supported by several international institutions that provided funding, mostly through the UN, and expertise.

2002 loya jirga

An emergency "loya jirga" (Pashto for "grand assembly") was held in Kabul, Afghanistan between 11 and 19 June 2002 to elect a transitional administration. The loya jirga was called for by the Bonn Agreement. The agreement (designed by Afghan leaders) was drawn up in December 2001 in Germany. Conducted under United Nations auspices, the talks at Bonn sought a solution to the problem of government in Afghanistan after the US ousted the Taliban government.

Preparations

Then-UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, announced the composition of the Commission in charge of the loya jirga on 21 January 2002; it was to be chaired by Ismail Qasimyar, a legal and constitutional expert. One of his two deputies was Mahboba Hoqomal, a female lecturer in political science. The commission decided that the Loya Jirga would be open for 1450, of which 1051 would be chosen by an indirect elections. Each district elected 20 people, who then held a secret vote to select one person to represent the whole district. Each of the country's 362 districts had at least one seat, with further seats allotted for every 22,000 people. The commission would reserve another 100 seats for refugees, 25 for nomads, 53 seats for members of the interim administration and the commission and 160 seats for women. It was the first time in the history of Afghanistan that women attended a loya jirga. In May, concern was being expressed that the armed factions in several provinces were influencing the selection of the members of the Loya Jirga and the Commission had received numerous complaints of intimidation and also of violence.