December 30, 2003	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 6, 1424

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KABUL, Dec 29: The Constitutional Loya Jirga approved on Monday certain amendments to the draft constitution that would strengthen the role of Islam amid allegations by some delegates that cabinet ministers were interfering in the process.

The 502-member Jirga is expected to debate and vote on the amendment that seeks to strengthen parliament and make the role of the president weaker.

President Hamid Karzai, who favours strong presidential powers, has made it clear that he would not be a candidate for the office in June 2004 elections if his powers as president were curtailed.

The 38-member reconciliation committee presented the first set of amendments proposed to the draft constitution as the Loya Jirga opened its debate in the morning.

The delegates were given three hours to read the draft and complete a form indicating whether or not they were approved of the articles in the revised constitution.

Those articles that did not have 151 votes in opposition were considered approved, and would not be discussed again, said Dr Fatema Fatemi, one of the secretaries of the Loya Jirga.

The delegates voted to introduce changes to articles 2 and 3 of the draft constitution to strengthen the reference to Islam.

Significantly enough, 151 delegates opposed 25 articles which, under the rules, would now be debated in the open session.

These include the articles relating to the powers of the president and parliament, the terms of supreme court justices, a requirement that ministers cannot have dual citizenship, the official languages, the national anthem, the rights of the nomadic Kuchi tribes, and the king’s title of “Father of the Nation” to the former King Zahir Shah.

The draft amendments distributed among the delegates on Monday have sought to significantly weaken the powers of the president.

The proposed amendments give parliament the power to set government policy, appoint the ministers, attorney-general, head of the national bank and head of intelligence.