CEO provincial advisors not to attend Loya Jirga

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Some provincial advisors to the Chief Executive Office (CEO) on Saturday announced they would not participate in the upcoming Consultative Loya Jirga.

They cited improper selection of the event’s participants, lack of authority and absence of a specific agenda and other reasons behind their decision not to take part in the jirga beginning April 29.

The three-day Consultative Loya Jirga is expected to be attended by around 3,000 people from across the country.

Advisors to the chief executive branch of the government in Nangarhar, Kunar and Laghman and some tribal elders held a press conference in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar, to announce their boycott the Loya Jirga.

Advisor to CEO Muallim Abdul Qayyum read out a joint statement of the advisors at the press conference and cited reasons behind their decision not to attend the jirga.

Qayyum said the planned jirga had no specific agenda and the event would not work for peace but it would seek legitimacy for the war.

He said the outcome of the peace talks in Qatar had not been discussed with the jirga invitees, then what would they discuss. He said most of the jirga participants had been chosen by the government not the masses.

“Our demand is that the peace jirga should be held after the Qatar talks and the fund set aside for the event should be diverted to reconstruction projects. Through the jirga, the government wants to place the burden of its own decisions on people’s shoulders.”

Another advisor to the CEO office, Mualvi Abdul Hasib, said the consultative loya jirga was not in the interest of the nation but was aimed at serving the interest of a single person.

Another advisor Zalmay Khan Hotak said the Loya Jirga had been orchestrated at the Presidential Palace and it would decide what the president desired.

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