Share this story!            

Differences emerge as loya jirga begins

KABUL: Differences over the shape of Afghanistan’s new constitution emerged Sunday shortly after the opening of a landmark convention to debate and ratify the document which will pave the way for the war-ravaged country’s final transition to democracy.

“Every government has made constitutions for themselves,” said Abdul Hafiz Mansour, an elected delegate for Kabul.

Debate has already raged over the draft, with critics warning it focuses too much power in the hands of the president and risks widening the country’s deep ethnic and factional divides. The traditional loya jirga meeting was opened earlier by former Afghan king Mohammad Zahir Shah.

President Hamid Karzai, in his speech to the delegates gathered in a huge white tent, said the constitution would offer Afghans a stable future under presidential guidance.

“We are a post-conflict country, we need stability and a durable and sustainable peace,” Karzai said, repeating his insistence that Afghanistan needed a presidential rather than parliamentary system.

The president expressed confidence that the criticised constitution would be ratified by delegates, shrugging off the threat of disputes between disparate factions among them. Streets around the polytechnic site were sealed off with US troops, international peacekeepers, Afghan national army soldiers, police and secret service agents. —AFP

Home | Main

Share this story!