Former mujahedin leaders are set to heavily influence Afghanistan's

future constitution after they were chosen to head five out of the ten

working groups at the Loya Jirga that will now debate the constitution

in detail.

The dominant role given to the faction leaders has provoked fierce

opposition from some delegates.

The five are Burhanuddin Rabbani, the head of the powerful

Jamiat-Islami party and former Afghan president; Abdul Rasul Sayyaf,

the leader of Ittihad-e-Islami; Ahmad Nabi Mohammadi, a leading figure

in Harakat-e-Inqilab-Islami; Ustad Farid, a former commander in

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-e-Islami; and lastly Mohammad Asef Muhsini,

leader of Harakat-e-Islami – unlike the others a Shia group.

Three of the five – Muhsini, Mohammadi and Farid – were among the 52

delegates selected by President Hamed Karzai, as opposed to the other

450 who were locally elected.

Malalai Joya, a female delegate from Farah province, provoked uproar

on Wednesday when she said that many of the former mujahedin were war

criminals who should face trial.

She specifically objected to the wartime leaders being spread out

across many of the Loya Jirga working groups, saying "all these

criminals" should all have been put in one group so as to limit their

influence.

Given the way the process is unfolding, the group leaders could exert

powerful influence on the new constitution. The delegates have been

divided into 10 groups of 50 or 51, each of which then chose a head.

Each group will debate clauses of the constitution, and their

conclusions will go to a separate committee made up of the 10 group

leaders, who will collate their findings and formulate a final draft

of the articles to be put to the full Loya Jirga. The assembly can

then accept or refuse – but not amend – the draft presented by the

group leaders.

Some delegates fear that the system will allow the faction leaders to

hijack the agenda. "I am opposed to these committees and groups,

because all the jihadis [mujahedin leaders] stand at the top of the

groups," Mohammad Ashraf, a delegate elected from Mazar-e-Sharif, told

IWPR. "And they want to impose their beliefs on others."

As with 2002's Emergency Loya Jirga which confirmed Karzai as

president, the predominance of Afghanistan's wartime leaders is

proving very controversial.

When Joya spoke out on Wednesday she was fiercely criticised. Some

delegates called her a communist and an atheist – serious accusations

in conservative Muslim Afghanistan – and the Loya Jirga chairman

Sibghatullah Mujaddidi tried to have her removed.

Delegates who had talked freely before the argument later declined to

speak to reporters.

Critics say the mujahedin leaders are still so powerful that many

delegates will be afraid to disagree with them in committee.

Dr Farooq Wardak, head of the Constitutional Commission's secretariat,

said his organisation had originally wanted to divide the 502

delegates into 10 groups in a random way. But Abdul Rasul Sayyaf had

objected, saying delegates should be split in a planned way so as to

achieve an equal distribution of professional expertise, provincial

origin, gender and other criteria.

"Those who know the constitution, the ulama [Islamic scholars], and

the lawyers should be split into different groups so that the results

of the discussion and debate will be positive, and closer to each

other," said Sayyaf.

As well as an elected head, each of the 10 groups has two secretaries,

one chosen from among the 50 members of the group and another second

from the Constitutional Commission. Another three commission members

are assigned to each group to explain the legal and technical details

of the draft document to the delegates.

Wardak said the groups, which began work on Wednesday, would examine

one chapter of the constitution every day. There are 12 chapters to

the constitution.

Rahimullah Samander and Rahim Gul Sarwan are participating in IWPR's

Loya Jirga reporting project.

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