Grand Jirga.. The article you inspired me to write underlines this strategy, who knew that Pakistani experience shall be repeated so soon and on that level.The White House Iftar summit between presidents Bush, Musharraf and Karzai, on Wednesday night made a major breakthrough when Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to summon grand tribal Jirgas on both sides of the border in which presidents Musharraf and Karzai would also participate.
The news of the Jirgas was broken to The News by the Afghan Ambassador to the US, Said Taiyab Jawad, who was also present in the meeting along with the Pakistan’s Ambassador Mahmud Durrani.
In London, President Musharraf told the media that both sides had agreed on a joint strategy to counter the Taliban threat but he did not mention the holding of the Jirgas...
The agreement has been signed as a result of Loya Jirga, an integral part of the tribal Pashtun wali code. The contravention of code is not tolerable. It is important for us to know that this is not a jungle law. As great protectors of human culture and diversity, the West needs to look at the bottom of the whole thing and see the strategic contours that led to this very sensitive agreement. Loya Jirga that decided the dispute is a tradition that goes back to a thousand years. What is Loya jirga? It is a forum unique to Pushtun in which, traditionally, tribal elders - Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks - have come together to settle affairs of the nation or rally behind a cause. The phrase, "Loya Jirga," is Pashto and means "Grand Council." The institution, which is centuries old, is a similar idea to the Islamic "shura", or consultative assembly. The kinds of decisions taken in a Loya Jirga are earth shattering. Perhaps the most famous loya jirga took place in 1747, when Pashtun tribal chiefs met in the southern city of Kandahar to elect a king. Deadlocked by nine days of debate, the loya jirga chose the king as the only man who had not spoken a word the whole time. That was Ahmad Shah Durrani, the man who founded the state of Afghanistan. Historically, it has been used to settle inter-tribal disputes, discuss social reforms and approve a new constitution. Hundreds of men wearing turbans, Persian lamb hats or embroidered quilt coats would pack into a vast hall. Long debates take place in Pashto and Dari, with the inclusion of the occasional Koranic quote in Arabic. In 1928, King Amanullah asked Queen Soraya to remove her veil at the loya jirga to win support for modernising reforms.
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