QUETTA, April 29: Prof Mohammad Musa Tawana and Abdul Baki Khalid, members of the Special Independent Commission (SIC), a body responsible to set up the Loya Jirga, have expressed satisfaction with the results of their consultation with Afghan refugees, who are living in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.

“We received positive response from refugees living in Balochistan and we are completely satisfied with our negotiations with them,” they said, speaking at a joint press conference here on Sunday after their four-day consultation with Afghan refugees.

He said the SIC had found extra enthusiasm among the refugees in Quetta and its surrounding areas, and where the refugees had submitted to them a list of 400 Afghans, while the refugees residing in other areas of the province had handed over a list 100 people to the commission as their representatives on the Loya Jirga. “We have received over 1,000 names of women from all over Pakistan for the 10 women seats in the Loya Jirga.”

Replying to a question, Mr Khalid said all ethnic groups of Afghanistan would be represented on the Jirga on the bases of their population. “Even Hindus and Sikhs living in Afghanistan could sit in the Loya Jirga,” he said, adding that “all those born in Afghanistan and now living in Afghanistan are eligible to become members of (the) Jirga.”

The SIC members said 1,051 Jirga members would be chosen from Afghanistan while 500 would be inducted into the Jirga from those Afghans, who were living outside their country, including Pakistan and Iran.

Replying to a question, they said the Loya Jirga would elect the head of the state of Afghanistan and his cabinet for a transitional period of two years. They added that the Jirga would also make laws, help organize a national army and would nominate its members for Shoora-i-Milli (parliament) that would work during the transitory period.

“What form of government would be in future in Afghanistan would be decided by that Loya Jirga,” Prof Tawana said, making it clear that “SIC would elect Loya Jirga members with the consultation of various tribes and ethnic groups of Afghanistan. There is no foreign pressure or interference in our work.”

Replying to a question about the role of former king Zahir Shah, Mr Kahlid said he had arrived in Kabul after 29 years in exile from Italy and according to the Bonn Agreement, he would preside over the inaugural session of the Loya Jirga as an elder of the Afghan people and a former king of Afghanistan.