2003 Loya Jirga Issues Addressed Election Of Chairman

Issues involving substantial debate included whether Dari or Pashto should be the official language, whether former king Mohammed Zahir Shah should maintain the title "father of the nation," how to address women's rights, whether Afghanistan should be a free market economy, and whether higher education should be free.

The most pressing issue, however, was the question of centralized power. Interim President Hamid KarzaiHamid Karzai Became Interim President December 22, 2001 Date of Birth December 24, 1957 Place of Birth Karz village, Qandahar Hamid Karzai ( in Arabic script), born December 24, 1957, is the interim president of the Afghan Transitional Administration, nam supported a constitution draft outlining a strong president and stated that he would not run for the office in 2004 if the draft was not approved. Members of the TajikTajik may refer to: Tajiks, an ethnicity with dwellers in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and China The Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan Tajik, one of the of the 56 nationalities officially recognized by the People's Republic of Ch-dominated Northern AllianceThe Northern Alliance (who prefer the title United Front were a group of factions who had the common goal of toppling the Taliban regime that was formerly in power in Afghanistan. They fought against the Taliban control that had expanded from Kandahar in accused Karzai of buying off opponents with promises of influential positions in a post-election government. On January 1January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Here a calendar year refers to the order in which the months are displayed, January to December. The first day of the medieval Julian year was usually a day other, the loya jirga broke down when close to half of the assembly, consisting mostly of UzbekUzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group found primarily in Uzbekistan, but also in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Xinjiang province of China and other countries in Central Asia. The Uzbeks predominatly follow Islam (mainly Sunni Islam) in a form that bec, Tajik, HazaraHazaras Geography The Hazara ethnic group resides mainly in the central Afghanistan mountain region called Hazarajat'. They make approximately 15% of Afghanistan's population. There are also significant populations of Hazaras in Pakistan and Iran. History and TurkmenTurkmen people (of which the Turkic plural is properly Turkmenler form an ethnic group, part of the Turkic peoples. Turkmen people live in: Afghanistan Iran Turkmenistan Turkmen in Iraq A minority (about 10,000 people) live in Iraq. These people are the d minorities, boycotted the first and only ballot, forcing chairman Sibghatullah Mojadedi to call for a 2-day adjourning.

2 Election of chairman, controversy

The Loya jirga convened beneath a large tent on the grounds of a Soviet-built university. In the opening ceremonies of December 14, former king Mohammad Zahir Shah addressed the assembly after a dozen children in diverse ethnic outfits, waved Afghan flags, and sang songs of peace, which included verses such as "We are doves, waiting for peace, we are tired of fighting." Later that day in a second vote, Mojadedi was elected the chairman by a majority vote of 252. Hafiz Mansour had garnered only 154 votes (not a majority) in the first vote.

The election of Mojadedi as chairman produced outrage from many of the 114 female delegates. To appease their concerns, Mojadedi selected Safia Sediqi for the fourth deputy position, and he named two other women as deputy's assistants, but the move did not pacify the women. Also that day, claiming the support of 241 delegates, the Northern Alliance demanded that 50 delegates picked by Karzai be denied voting rights; however Mojadedi rejected the idea.

Some government and supreme court officials, as well as members of legal and human rights commissions, were allowed to attend but only allowed to participate when asked for their opinions by an elected delegate. Provincial governors and top-ranking police, administration and military officials were barred from the proceedings.

On the third day, Malalai Joya , a female delegate from Farah province was temporarily thrown out when she complained that the same warlords of the past would still be in charge of the new government. Her microphone was turned off when she suggested that some of the leaders should be tried in an international court. She remained under U.N. protection for a number of days because of death threats.

3 Process dissatisfaction

Some delegates, such as Abdolkabir Ranjber complained that the process had no specific criteria. Delegates were not properly prepared or educated about the issues.

4 Delegate selection

The selection process for the loya jirga began July 16, 2003 when president Karzai issued a decree calling for 500 delegates. 344 delegates were elected by 15,000 district representatives who were chosen in the May 2002 loya jirga. 64 female delegates were chosen by Afghan women. 42 delegates represented refugees, nomads, displaced people , minorities ( Hindu and Sikh). 50 delegates were appointed by Karzai.

5 Delegates

Kabir Ranjbar , head of Afghan Lawyers Association

6 External link

Afghans agree on new constitution; BBC; 4 January 2004.

Loya jirga

<Hide>

Home > 2003 Loya jirga

1 Issues addressed