PESHAWAR, Aug 2: Participants of the Pakistan-Afghanistan grand jirga are doubtful about its outcome, saying that there is no precedent of a jirga resolving complex issues like disputes between two countries.
The event is only a week away but delegates are still in the dark about what they would be discussing during their two-day stay in Kabul. Some academicians questioned the rationale behind the large number of participants in the Jirga from both sides, particularly the induction of in-service bureaucrats.
Critics say that Jirga was not a proper forum for discussing bilateral disputes between two countries and there was no such historical example.
A senior researcher at the Area Study Center of the University of Peshawar, Dr Sher Zaman Taizai, said that they had already proposed to the government to constitute a joint commission, comprising Pakistan and Afghanistan to resolve contemporary issues.
“Jirga is a small forum, which is not meant to resolve political disputes among countries,” Dr Taizai observed. He said that Pakistan was not the only stake-holder and there were many regional and international powers that were responsible for the mess in Afghanistan.
“The grand jirga can (help) develop understanding between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but it is beyond its capacity to handle such complicated issues,” he observed. The Awami National Party has confirmed its participation in the jirga starting from Aug 9, but the party’s provincial president Afrasiyab Khattak said that they did not expect any major breakthroughs.
“The ANP has received a formal invitation to attend the Jirga. The party’s president Asfandyar Wali Khan will attend the meeting, but we sense a lack of sincerity on the part of Islamabad, because the Pakistani delegation is going to Kabul without homework,” he said. He said they were ignorant about what was to be discussed at the jirga.
Officials said that participants of the jirga from the NWFP and Federally-Administered Tribal Area (Fata) had been invited to the Governor’s House for a preliminary briefing on the issues on Saturday. Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai, representing in the Jirga from the NWFP side, will brief the members.
Interestingly, retired civil servants and some serving bureaucrats would participate in the jirga. Journalists are also attending it being jirga members.
A senior researcher, working on Afghanistan and tribal area, said that some personalities had been inducted in the jirga, who had no role in the issue. He said that it was very difficult to manage time for some 700 participants from both sides where they would express their view.
“We never saw bureaucrats sitting in Jirga. Serving officers are supposed to remain active behind scene and level ground for talks, but they never become a jirga member,” he said.
“Do you think a university teacher or a serving bureaucrat would dare to talk in front of interior minister, governor and other top government functionaries,” he said.