KABUL (TOLOnews): As the timeline for the Consultative Loya Jirga on Peace edges closer, skepticisms are also rising among politicians who foresee the grand assembly a platform where government will easily pursue its political and electoral objectives.
There is no guarantee that members and agenda of the peace Jirga will not be specified ahead of the event, said Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the reconciled leader of Hizb-e-Islami. He said a consultative Jirga cannot solve problems but will add to them “because it lacks the authority of making decisions”.
“This jirga should have the authority of making decision,” Hekmatyar said in an interview with TOLOnews on Tuesday. “It should not be a consultative Jirga. Consultative Jirga cannotsolve any problem of our country but it will add to the problems.”
Another politician and a leading member of Jamiat-e-Islami party, Atta Mohammad Noor, who has served as governor of northern Balkh for more than a decade, said the agenda and the objectives of the Jirga have already been specified by government. He said he rejects such a Jirga.
In an interview with TOLOnews this week, Noor said he will not attend the jirga, because it is aimed at extending the current government.
“I will not participate in a ‘fake’ Jirga like this, the scenario of which has been engineered and a Jirga is aimed at extension of power,” said Noor.
A senior official from Ghani’s administration said this week that no one will be allowed to misuse the Jirga for political or election purposes.
The assembly is aimed at creating a national consensus on peace, said Mohammad Umer Daudzai, head of the High Peace Council’s secretariat, who has been assigned to organize the Jirga.
“Everyone should be included,” Daudzai said on Monday. “If they have political disagreements or political rivalry, they should put it aside and should attend the Jirga because it is necessary.”
According to him, around
2,000 delegates will attend the Jirga and that women will make 30 percent of the delegates. Other task of the Jirga, Daudzai said, is to determine the red lines for peace and the values for which a lasting peace will be established in the country.
The High Peace Council has said the selection of the delegates will be semi-elective. The Jirga will continue for three days from March 17 to March 19.
