OpEd - Stifled in the Loya Jirga

[Mark Pavlick]

>
>Stifled in the Loya Jirga
>By Omar Zakhilwal
>Sunday, June 16, 2002; Page B07
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54511-2002Jun14.html
>
>
>KABUL -- I am a member of the loya jirga's silent majority -- or rather,
>silenced majority -- who came here to Afghanistan's capital expecting to
>shape our nation's future but instead find ourselves being dragged back into
>the past.
>
>We came from all parts of the country to claim our freedom and democracy.
>Instead, we are being met with systematic threats and intimidation aimed at
>undermining our free choice. We came strengthened by international
>declarations on human rights, but now are facing international complicity in
>the denial of our rights. We came to represent the diverse interests of the
>entire Afghan nation, 1,500 delegates for 25 million people, but are being
>pressured to support the narrow agenda of warlords and their foreign
>sponsors. We came to inaugurate an inclusive and professional transitional
>government, but instead are being compelled to rubber-stamp the Bonn
>Agreement's unjust power-sharing arrangements.
>
>The fundamental question we face is this: Will the new government be
>dominated by the same warlords and factional politics responsible for two
>decades of violence and impunity, or can we break with this legacy and begin
>to establish a system of law and professional governance?
>
>The Afghan people have spoken clearly on this issue. I recently participated
>in a U.N.-commissioned assessment mission by the Center for Economic and
>Social Rights. Our report documents widespread agreement among all Afghans,
>from urban professionals to landless farmers, that there should be no role
>for warlords in the country's future, and that international aid will be
>wasted unless the underlying conditions of peace and security are first
>established.
>
>The same consensus holds in the loya jirga. I estimate that at least 80
>percent of delegates favor excluding all warlords from the government. The
>200 women delegates are especially outspoken on this issue. In a spontaneous
>display of democracy, they publicly rebuked two powerful symbols of
>Afghanistan's violent past -- Burhanuddin Rabbani, president of the
>mujaheddin government from 1992 to '96, and Gen. Mohammed Fahim, former
>intelligence chief and currently defense minister in the interim government.
>
>But because of behind-the-scenes pressure, our voices are being silenced and
>the warlords empowered. Let me give some concrete examples.
>
>When the loya jirga opened, support for the former king, Mohammed Zahir
>Shah, was extremely strong. Rather than address the issue democratically,
>almost two days of the six-day loya jirga were wasted while a parade of
>high-level officials from the interim government, the United Nations and the
>United States visited Zahir Shah and eventually "persuaded" him to publicly
>renounce his political ambitions.
>
>When the loya jirga recommenced, the delegates were surprised to be greeted
>by Afghanistan's 30 provincial governors, none of whom was elected to the
>grand assembly. It soon became apparent that their purpose was to serve as
>arm-twisters for the interim government, which is dominated by warlords from
>the Northern Alliance. These men controlled less than 10 percent of the
>country before the fall of the Taliban and therefore have little direct
>influence over most loya jirga members.
>
>But the governors are able to leverage their local military and financial
>power to pressure delegates from their provinces to support hand-picked
>candidates allied to the Northern Alliance. At a gathering I attended, one
>governor made his threat explicit: "You are all with me. You will do what I
>tell you to do. If you dare disobey, we all go back to our province after
>this, don't we?" Such threats are enhanced by scores of Interior Ministry
>agents circulating throughout the loya jirga compound and openly
>intimidating outspoken delegates.
>
>Equally discouraging is the role played by international organizations,
>especially considering our high expectations for their support on human
>rights issues. When I complained about our restricted role, a top U.N.
>political adviser told me in no uncertain terms that the loya jirga was not
>intended to bring about fundamental political change, such as ridding the
>government of warlords. Meanwhile, Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. special envoy on
>Afghanistan, has caused disappointment in the loya jirga through pressure
>tactics to undermine popular support for Zahir Shah.
>
>In reality, the loya jirga is being treated as a ratification tool for
>backroom political deals. As one example, the media have reported on the
>"voluntary" decision of Interior Minister Yonus Qanooni to drop his
>candidacy. But it is not being reported that he may become prime minister in
>the new government, or that his intended replacement is himself a member of
>Qanooni's Northern Alliance faction.
>
>I asked a taxi driver what he thought of the loya jirga. The man shrugged
>his shoulders and pointed out the window at Kabul's ruined landscape: "The
>same people who destroyed these buildings are sitting in the front row of
>the loya jirga."
>
>On the first day of the loya jirga, we were filled with hope and enthusiasm.
>Most of us stayed up past midnight in spirited debates about the country's
>future. By the third day, a palpable demoralization had set in. Our time is
>being wasted on trivial procedural matters. We feel manipulated and
>harassed. Our historic responsibility to the Afghan nation is becoming a
>charade.
>
>We are in Kabul because we believe that participation and democracy are more
>than words on paper. We are not asking for much, after all: simply the right
>to determine our own government and future in accordance with the human
>rights ideals so loudly trumpeted by the international community -- the same
>rights as all other people.
>
>The writer, a professor of economics in Ottawa, Canada, co-authored a new
>human rights report on Afghanistan for the Center for Economic and Social
>Rights, a human rights group based in New York.
>

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