Паштунские джирги: история и современность

Assembly of Pashtun tribal leaders

A jirga (, jərga) is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic groups who are influenced by them in present day Afghanistan and Pakistan. Historically, a loya jirga or a "great council" has been convened in order to elect a new head of state, approve a new constitution or resolve critical issues. Loya jirgas have reportedly been organized since the rise to power of the Hotak dynasty in the early 18th century. In July 1747, Afghan chiefs assembled in Kandahar to elect a new king, choosing the 25 year old Ahmad Shah Durrani, who is credited with founding the modern state of Afghanistan. From 11 to 14 March 2022, the inaugural meeting of the Pashtun National Jirga was held in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to discuss the critical issues faced by the Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The word jirga might be cognate to Mongolian цирк (tsərk), referring to a large assembly of men forming a very broad circle, initially intended for laying siege around games or animals to be hunted for food or sport. Pashtun elders also typically sit in a circle when debating and hearing a given dispute during a tribal jirga. In Pashto, a grand jirga is known as loya jirga (لویه جرګه, lōya jərga). A mini jirga is called jirgagai (جرګګۍ, jərgagəy).

The institution, which is centuries old, is a similar idea to the Islamic shura ("consultative assembly").

A jirga at Kandahar was attended by Afghan representatives who appointed Ahmad Shah Durrani as their new leader.

In September 1928, a jirga was called by King Amanullah at Paghman near Kabul, the third loya jirga of his reign (1919–1929) to discuss reforms, during which King Amanullah asked Queen Soraya to remove her veil in order to gain support for his modernizing policies. However, this was too much for the delegates, some of whom instigated a revolt. September 1964 – A meeting of 452 called by Mohammed Zahir Shah to approve a new constitution. July 1974 – A meeting with Pakistan over the Durand Line. January 1977 – Approved the new constitution of Mohammed Daoud Khan establishing one party rule in the Republic of Afghanistan. April 1985 – To ratify the new constitution of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. May 1990 – To ratify a new constitution of the Republic of Afghanistan under Mohammad Najibullah, amendments includes providing for multiple political parties. September 2001 – Four different loya jirga movements anticipating the end of Taliban rule. Little communication took place between each of them. The first was based in Rome around Mohammed Zahir Shah, and it reflected the interests of moderate Pashtuns from Afghanistan. The Rome initiative called for fair elections, support for Islam as the foundation of the Afghan state, and respect for human rights. The second was based in Cyprus and led by Homayoun Jarir, a member of the Islamic Party of his father in law, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Critics of the Cyprus initiative suspected that it served the interests of Iran. The members of the Cyprus initiative, however, considered themselves closer to the Afghan people and regard the Rome group as too close to the long isolated nobility. The most significant was based in Germany, which resulted in the Bonn Agreement (Afghanistan). This agreement was made under United Nations auspices, established the Afghan Interim Authority and paved the way for the later jirgas that established the Constitution of Afghanistan. 2006 – Afghan president Hamid Karzai said that he and the Pakistani president will jointly lead a loya jirga to end a dispute over border attacks. December 2009 – after his disputed re election, President Hamid Karzai announced to move ahead with a plan for a loya jirga to discuss the Taliban insurgency. The Taliban was invited to take part in this jirga, but they declined. June 2010 – at Kabul, in which around 1,600 delegates of all ethnic groups attended for a peace talks with the Taliban. 17 November 2013 – at Kabul, in which around 2,500 Afghan elders approved the presence of a limited number of US forces beyond 2014. April 29 – May 3, 2019 – at the Bagh e Bala Palace in Kabul, held to agree a common approach to peace talks with the Taliban, amid negotiations between the Taliban and the United States. The jirga was chaired by Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and over 3,200 delegates attended. The Taliban refused to attend. 7–9 August 2020 – held to decide the fate of 400 Taliban prisoners accused of serious crimes, who were supposed to be freed as part of the Afghan peace process.

On June 21, 1947, in Bannu, a loya jirga was held consisting of Bacha Khan, his brother Chief Minister Dr Khan Sahib, the Khudai Khidmatgars, members of the Provincial Assembly, Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi), and other tribal chiefs, just seven weeks before the Partition of India. The loya jirga declared the Bannu Resolution, which demanded that the Pashtuns be given a choice to have an independent state of Pashtunistan composing all Pashtun territories of British India, instead of being made to join either India or Pakistan. However, the British Raj refused to comply with the demand of this resolution, in response to which the Khudai Khidmatgars boycotted the 1947 North West Frontier Province referendum for merging the province into Pakistan.

In April 2006, former Balochistan Chief Minister Taj Muhammad Jamali offered to arrange a meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and a loya jirga for peace in Balochistan. A loya jirga was held at Kalat in September 2006 to announce that a case would be filed in the International Court of Justice regarding the sovereignty and rights of the Baloch people.

The jirga was also used as a court in cases of criminal conduct, but this usage is being replaced by formal courts in some settled areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, elsewhere it is still used as courts in tribal regions. The jirga holds the prestige of a court in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Although a political agent appointed by the national government maintains law and order through the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), the actual power lies in the jirga. The political agent maintains law and order in his tribal region with the help of jirgas. The jirga can award capital punishment, such as stoning to death in case of adultery, or expulsion from the community. In the recent military operations against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's restive southern tribal agencies bordering Afghanistan, jirgas played a key role of moderator between the government and the militants. The tradition of jirga has also been adopted by Muslims in the Kashmir valley of Indian administered Kashmir.