Afghan council faces southern challenge

"Just as the passage of time changes everything, that loya jirga was really very different from the loya jirga of today," says Suraya Parlika, one of the commissioners and a well-known activist for women's rights. "Now there isn't any one person who can oppose someone's participation."

It may be difficult to quell complaints, particularly among Pashtuns – an ethnic group that makes up close to half the country's population. Some Pashtun leaders say their strength is being underestimated in the loya jirga process. Each province is awarded seats according to population. But Pashtuns in restive Khost, for example, say that mainly Tajik provinces of the same size are being awarded twice the seats.

Moreover, some of the jirga's goals could prove lofty. The guidelines bar anyone who has committed war crimes, but pinning down exactly who falls into that category, in the absence of any form of prosecution for alleged culprits, is next to impossible.

"We can ask about the warlords in question in any district because the people there can judge better," says Ms. Parlika. "If the local civilians support someone, we have to support them."

Equally controversial are the 500 members who are chosen – not elected – by the 21 commissioners. These include women, refugees, writers and scholars, religious leaders – and 20 seats for "influential personalities" of Afghanistan.

"Who is 'influential?' Which part of the country are they from, and who will select them?" asks the petition.

The Pashtun tribal leaders are angry that these and many other categories of delegates will be hand-picked by a few commissioners.

The guidelines say there will be six religious scholars on the Jirga. "Who, by whom, and from where?" the leaders ask in the petition.

There are also 25 seats on the jirga dedicated to nomads. "The nomads of which province?" the organizers demanded to know. "What kind of refugee has the right [to participate]?"

The Pashtun tribal leaders also object to the 21 members of the commission participating and voting in the loya jirga, a fact confirmed yesterday at the commission headquarters.

"We strongly request the UN to postpone the loya jirga until it is designed and organized according to the 1964 constitution," concludes the four-page letter – signed by several dozen prominent tribal leaders. "Otherwise this loya jirga will bring disaster to the country instead of peace and stability."

The UN, which is assisting in the loya jirga, says it has heard several complaints about the selection process, but that the petition had not yet reached their office in Kabul.

Most of the commissioners, says Manoel de Almeida e Silva, spokesman for UN special representative Lakhdar Brahimi, are now in far-flung districts in Afghanistan reviewing the selection process.

"The complaints we have are regarding seats per district. Some of that comes from the southern region. There was a feeling that they did not have as many seats as they feel they should have," says Mr. de Almeida e Silva. "For some, there is a situation of feeling disenfranchised, which plays a role in this as well."

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