Loya Jirga

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How is it run? i mean kay how is it carried out? and is it common in Pakistan too?

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It's a jirga that is very loya.

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Loya jirga — a fact file

As 500 delegates prepare to debate and ratify Afghanistan’s new draft constitution, here are key facts and figures on the loya jirga (grand assembly):

  • The loya jirga is expected to last between one week and 10 days.

  • The loya jirga will debate and approve the draft constitution, paving the way for Afghanistan’s first democratic election, scheduled for June 2004.

  • A total of 344 of the 500 delegates were elected by some 19,000 representatives of Afghanistan’s 32 provinces.

  • A further 64 women’s representatives, two from each province, have been elected by women.

  • There are also 42 special category representatives, consisting of 24 to represent refugees in Iran and Pakistan, nine to represent nomads, six for internally displaced people and three to represent the Hindu and Sikh minorities.

  • President Karzai has also appointed 50 delegates, half of them women.

  • The 2003 draft constitution is the country’s sixth written constitution, following the first promulgated by King Amanullah in 1923 and subsequent ones in 1931, 1964, 1977 and 1987.

  • It will replace the 1964 document which is currently in use but without the 1964 provision that Afghanistan is a constitutional monarchy.

  • Drawn up in April and released to the public in November, the 160-article, 12-chapter draft constitution envisages a presidential system based on democratic principles united under the laws of moderate Islam.

  • The assembly is expected to debate the key issues of how large a role Islam, the national religion, will play, the role and rights of women and ethnic and religious minorities, and the balance of power between the central government and the provinces.

  • Loya jirga assemblies to debate issues have a long tradition among the Pashtun tribes of southern and eastern Afghanistan, although most ethnic groups have some form of council of elders.

  • Three layers of security are being provided to guard the Kabul polytechnic site from possible Taliban attacks: soldiers from the new Afghan national army provide the inner ring, with interior ministry officers, police, secret service and foreign peacekeeepers from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force manning the second layer. The outer ring of security is being provided by the ministry of defence.

  • Delegates meet for the main sessions in a large white tent erected in the grounds of the polytechnic in west Kabul. The 500 delegates will be split into 10 groups of 50 which will discuss the constitution in 10 smaller tents pitched around the large one. —AFP

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hmm..