PESHAWAR, Dec 27: Former Mujahideen groups appear to have scored a moral victory after a Loya Jirga committee approved changes proposed by them to the Afghan draft constitution which called for a greater role of religion in the government affairs.

The Mujahideen groups have also struck a deal with President Hamid Karzai that called for curtailment in the powers of the president as given in the draft constitution, and for creation of a council to interpret and oversee the implementation of the constitution, according to a delegate who represented the Mujahideen groups in negotiations.

Some of the changes were approved by a majority by the 38-member reconciliation committee.

Two of the delegates who were members of the reconciliation committee and the two committee observers detailed the changes to Dawn on Friday evening shortly after the committee’s meeting ended.

Given the large number of former Mujahideen leaders and their political allies in the 502-member

Loya Jirga, the changes stand a

good chance of being approved by the full assembly when they are voted on.

The reconciliation committee, under pressure from these leaders, agreed on significant changes that would strengthen the role of Islam, now balanced with the government’s secular powers as embodied throughout the constitution and carried out by the elected officials.

These changes included the second and third articles of the constitution, members of the reconciliation committee said.

One of the most significant changes has been sought in Article 3, which currently states that “no law can be made contrary to the sacred religion of Islam and the values of this constitution.”

The reconciliation committee agreed to eliminate the reference to “the values of this constitution,” which includes concurrence with the UN Declaration on Human Rights.

If the phrase were eliminated, some fear, conservative interpretations of Islam could take precedence over human rights.

In article 2, which in the draft constitution states “the religion of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam,” the committee voted to change the wording to “the religion of Afghanistan’s government and people is the sacred religion of Islam.”

However, in an acknowledgement to the women rights advocated by many delegates, the coordination committee also voted to specify in article 4 that the term “citizen” applied to men and women.

According to Siddiq Chakari, a member of Jamiat-i-Islami, the trade-off with Karzai means that the clause in the draft constitution that specifies that the president should be directly elected by the people would remain despite the fact that many in the constitutional Loya Jirga favoured a parliamentary system, without a president.

However, the power of the president to appoint ministers would instead be given to parliament, said Mr Chakari, who was a member of the team that held negotiations with Mr Karzai.

A new article would be added to create the Diwan-i-Aali, or high council, which would supervise the implementation of the constitution, including review of the new laws passed by parliament.

The council members would be appointed by the president immediately following the Loya Jirga’s approval of the constitution.

This addition leaves a room for a conservative interpretation of the constitution — depending entirely on who is selected for the council. Some delegates opposed the creation of this council for that reason.

“All the (Jihadi) delegates wanted the word ‘Islam’ added to the end of every article,” said a delegate. “They did not even want a market economy, rather Islamic economy to be written,” he said.

Mr Chakari said the Jihadi leaders had also been advocating for special rights in the constitution, “but the privileges they were demanding have not been fulfilled.”

The reconciliation committee, however, has to agree on another 22 articles that would probably be put to vote. These include: 1) the list of powers of the president, which some delegates want reduced. 2) The powers of parliament, which some delegates want to enhance. 3) That parliament should be elected at the same time as the president, presumably in June 2004. 4) The official languages, which the draft says are Dari and Pushtu; ethnic Uzbeks have advocated that their language should also be made one of the official languages. 5) The national anthem, which the draft says should be in Pushtu; some have suggested a new anthem that is still in Pushtu but includes names of various tribes of Afghanistan. 6) The former king’s title of “Father of the Nation” and awarding of ceremonial privileges to him. 7) Former Mujahideen groups want to be accorded some privileges. 8) That anyone appointed as a minister could not have dual citizenship. 10) The article allows Shia jurisprudence to be used “in cases dealing with personal matters” among Shias, who are in the minority in Afghanistan; but some delegates feel that only the Hanafi law of the majority Islamic sect should be used.