Afghanistan: Trouble on the
farm By Aunohita Mojumdar
KABUL - Former Afghan warlords and
commanders are becoming increasingly adept at
fighting their battles in Parliament, with the
latest example of their muscle-flexing coming on
Monday when firebrand female parliamentarian
Malalai Joya was suspended from the Lower House.
Joya had compared her fellow, overwhelmingly male,
colleagues to farmyard animals.
The
incident underlines a growing conflict of
interests among Parliament, the government and the
international community.
The contradiction
first came to light during the infamous "amnesty
vote" in February when
members tried to give themselves immunity from
prosecution for any crimes committed during the
past 25 years of war. Former communists,
mujahideen and Taliban united on this issue. The
international community expressed concern over
this apparent subversion of the process of
transitional justice, resulting in a fierce war of
words.
The standoff was resolved after
President Hamid Karzai signed off on a law that
seemed to include a clause to satisfy every need.
One clause, Article 3, grants immunity from
prosecution, while another clause gives
individuals the right to pursue justice over
individual crimes.
At best the law can be
termed ambiguous, a factor that is likely to favor
the status quo rather than any pursuit of
prosecution of war crimes. However, the United
Nations' top representative in the country, Tom
Koenigs, claims the law has strengthened the
rights of the individual, adding that he has been
assured by Karzai that the law does not preempt
the state's right to prosecute.
Since
then, the issue of the extent of Parliament's
power and its possible misuse has only grown more
acute. Having installed a Parliament in a tearing
hurry in 2005, both the government and the
international community are now faced with
considerable challenges as Parliament comes up
with laws and decisions that would be considered
incongruous in a liberal democratic framework.
Both the US-backed government in Kabul and
the international community pushed for the
formation of Parliament in 2005 even though few of
the conditions that had led to the postponement of
elections in 2004 had changed. Elections took
place in an environment vitiated by the failure of
the disarmament process. The multi-seat single
non-transferable vote system used in the elections
beggared belief, as did the ban on political
parties from contesting in the elections. The
situation was compounded by an evidently faulty
vetting process.
The composition of
Parliament therefore falls short of what its
backers would have liked. The House of
Representatives (Wolesi Jirga - Lower House) is
dominated by a minority comprising former
commanders and warlords and those who have other
sources of wealth and power. This group is taking
advantage to push its agenda, helped by a power
vacuum in the country created by Karzai's lack of
writ beyond the capital, the absence of political
parties, and the lack of established parliamentary
procedures.
This month, the Meshrano
Jirga, or Upper House, passed a bill calling for
talks with indigenous Taliban, a cessation of
operations by international troops, a date for
their withdrawal, and the request that these
troops operate only when necessary and with the
approval of the government.
But whether
the Upper House can initiate a bill is still to be
clarified. If it can, it could render
anti-insurgency operations untenable, requiring a
complete rewiring of the military strategy of the
foreign forces as well as the chain of command.
The international community, especially the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization and the US-led
coalition forces, are counting on Karzai to bail
them out. The president's assent is required on
all laws passed by Parliament, though his power of
veto is limited. If Parliament disagrees with him,
it can overrule the president with a two-thirds
majority, something that obviously tempers the
president's willingness or ability to counter some
of the illiberal moves.
There was
considerable international dismay this month over
the "dismissal" of two ministers - the minister of
refugees and the minister of foreign affairs,
apparently on the grounds of their failure to deal
with the problem of returnees and refugees being
pushed out by Iran and Pakistan.
While
Karzai challenged the procedure of a no-confidence
vote against Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar
Spanta, (while accepting the no-confidence move
against Minister of Refugees Mohammed Akbar), the
UN questioned Parliament's authority to dismiss
the ministers altogether. It said the UN
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan's view "is that
the constitution provides for votes of censure of
confidence in ministers, but does not expressly
give Parliament the right to dismiss ministers".
A senior parliamentary official, however,
reacted to this statement with anger, saying such
observations on the part of the UN amounted to
"interference in the country's internal affairs".
The official cited Article 92 of the constitution,
which allows a vote of no confidence to be passed
against any minister by a simple majority of the
House. "No confidence means removal of the
minister," he insisted.
In this case the
UN did attempt to interpret the constitution,
despite saying that this was the prerogative of
the Supreme Court, to which Karzai has referred
the issue.
A number of countries take
particular interest in Afghanistan because they
are helping pay for its reconstruction, whether it
is physical infrastructure or the institutions of
state, such as law and justice and their delivery
mechanisms.
There is, though, a fine line
between aid and interference. Countries are also
selective about when they pitch in. They are
assertive on issues relating to the rule of law
and almost the sole decision-makers in terms of
military operations. However, they are quite happy
to pipe down on issues relating to gender on the
grounds that they do not want to interfere with
the cultural traditions of the country.
Long before the amnesty bill,
parliamentarians attempted to pass laws that would
lower the age of consent of girls to 13 years and
make it mandatory for all female parliamentarians
to be "escorted" by mehrams (male family
members) while traveling both within and outside
Afghanistan. There was also a concerted bid to
abolish the Ministry of Women's Affairs, on the
grounds that it had not achieved anything
concrete, notwithstanding that it had been
deliberately kept weak by making it a policymaking
body without any implementing powers. No one is
convinced that these moves have seen their last.
Harsh words Malalai Joya, 29,
who is from Farah province, angered her colleagues
when she spoke in a television interview of the
"farmyard" nature of Parliament. She added that at
least cows were useful as they provided milk.
Joya has been a consistent critic of
warlords and those accused of war crimes being
allowed in Parliament. In 2004, when she
challenged their presence in the council
established to write a constitution, she received
death threats - she now has around-the-clock
security.
Her outspoken speeches have made
her a target for verbal abuse, even while her
courage and work for the destitute and women in
general have made her extremely popular in her own
constituency. She was returned to Parliament with
one of the highest numbers of votes, competing
against men on her own right rather than entering
Parliament as a beneficiary of the reserved seats
for women.
Joya's outspokenness brought
her into Parliament, the same trait that now seems
to have had her removed from the House.
In
the broader picture, if Parliament continues to
assert its supremacy at the behest of the "warlord
clique", the country could face a political
"insurgency" to go with the military one led by
the Taliban.
Aunohita Mojumdar
is an Indian journalist who is currently based in
Kabul. She has reported on the South Asian region
for 16 years and has covered the Kashmir conflict
and post-conflict situation in Punjab extensively.
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