Ajirga (Pashto:جرګه,jərga) is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according toPashtunwali, thePashtun 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, aloya 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.[1]Loya jirgas have reportedly been organized since the rise to power of theHotak dynasty in the early 18th century. In July 1747, Pashtun chiefs assembled inKandahar to elect a new king, choosing the 25-year-oldAhmad Shah Durrani, who is credited with founding the modern state ofAfghanistan.[2]
From 11 to 14 October 2024, thePashtun National Jirga was held inKhyber to discuss the critical issues faced by thePashtuns inPakistan andAfghanistan.
The wordjirga is cognate toMiddle Mongol noun,ǰerge (originally meaning rank and order), referring to a large assembly of men forming a very broad circle, initially intended for laying siege aroundgames or animals to be hunted for food or sport.[3][4][5] Pashtun elders also typically sit in a circle when debating and hearing a given dispute during a tribal jirga.
InPashto, a grand jirga is known asloya jirga (لویه جرګه,lōya jərga). A mini-jirga is calledjirgagai (جرګګۍ,jərgagəy).
The institution, which is centuries old, is a similar idea to the Islamicshura ("consultative assembly").[1]
It is thought that the ancientIndo-Iranian tribes, also known as Arya orAryans, practiced a sort of jirga system with two types of councils –simite andsabhā. Thesimite (summit) comprised elders and tribal chiefs. The king also joined sessions of thesimite.Sabhā was a sort of rural council. In present-dayIndia, they are still referred to asSamiti andSabha.
In Afghan society, the jirga is still maintained and favored, mostly by tribal leaders to solve internal or external disputes with other tribes. In some cases it functions like atown hall meeting. When the Afghans took power they tried to legitimize their hold with such a jirga. While in the beginning only Pashtuns were allowed to participate in thejirgas, later other ethnic groups likeTajiks andHazaras were allowed to participate as well. The member of thejirgas were mostly members of the royal family, religious leaders and tribal leaders of the Afghans. KingAmanullah Khan institutionalized the jirga. From Amanullah until the reign ofMohammed Zahir Shah (1933–1973) andMohammed Daoud Khan (1973–1978) the jirga was recognized as a common meeting of regional Pashtun leaders. The meetings do not have scheduled occurrences, but rather are called for when issues or disputes arise. There is no time limit for a jirga to conclude, and the meetings often take time because decisions can only be made as a group and arguments can drag out for days. Various issues can be addressed such as major disaster, foreign policy, declaration of war, the legitimacy of leaders, and the introduction of new ideas and laws.
The community council meaning is often found in circumstances involving a dispute between two individuals; a jirga may be part of thedispute resolution mechanism in such cases. The disputants would usually begin by finding amediator, choosing someone such as a senior religious leader, a local notable, or a mediation specialist (akhan orməshər). In tribal Pashtun society, the maliks serve asde facto arbiters in local conflicts, interlocutors in state policy-making, tax-collectors, heads of village and town councils and delegates to provincial and national jirgas as well as delegates to Parliament. The mediator hears from each of the two sides and then he forms a Jirga of community elders, taking care to include the supporters of both sides. The jirga then considers the case and, after it discusses the matter, it comes to a decision about how to handle it, which the mediator then announces. The jirga's conclusion is binding.
Aloya jirga was gathered byMirwais Hotak in Shari Safa near Kandahar in 1709.[6]
A jirga atKandahar was attended by Afghan representatives who appointedAhmad Shah Durrani as their new leader.
In September 1928, a jirga was called byKing Amanullah atPaghman near Kabul, the thirdloya jirga of his reign (1919–1929) to discuss reforms, during which King Amanullah askedQueen 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.[1] Resistance against Amanullah's reforms eventually led to theAfghan Civil War (1928–1929).
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InJune–July 2002,Hamid Karzai elected to oversee aloya jirga. This was only possible because in the fall of 2001, Karzai was able to successfully lead one of the largest tribes in southern Afghanistan in a revolt against the rule of theTaliban. Theloya jirga was organized by the interim administration of Hamid Karzai, with about 1,600 delegates, some of the delegates were selected during elections which were held in various regions of the country, and other delegates were selected by members of various political, cultural, and religious groups. It was held in a large tent on the grounds of the Kabul Polytechnic on June 11 and it was scheduled to last about a week. It formed a newTransitional Administration that took office shortly thereafter.
More than 1,000 of the participants were elected in a two-stage procedure. Each district elected 20 members, who then elected one person who would represent the entire district in a secret vote. At least one member was allocated to each of the country's 362 districts, with an additional seat being allocated for every 22,000 people. No one was barred from the meeting with the exception of people who were accused of engaging interrorism, people who were suspected of being involved in the illegal drug trade, people who committed human rights abuses, people who committedwar crimes, people who committed pillage, and people who committed theft of public property. Additionally, nomads, refugees, intellectuals, representatives of cultural institutions, representatives of social organizations, and religious scholars were all in attendance. Of the remaining seats, a total of 160 seats were allocated to women.[1]
On14 December 2003, a 502-delegateloya jirga was convened in Kabul to consider theproposed Afghan Constitution. Originally planned to last ten days, the assembly endorsed the charter by January 4, 2004.
From 29 June to 2 July 2022, theTaliban government hosted the first loya jirga since its takeover at the Loya Jirga Hall inKabul.[7][8][9] Around 3,500 people attended, including scholars, tribal elders, non-Taliban local leaders, representatives of theShiite community, and representatives ofAfghan refugees inIran andPakistan.[7] No female delegates were present.[7] The jirga produced an 11-point resolution, which reiterated the country's sovereignty, and implored the international community to recognize the Taliban government.[8]
Some other historical jirgas in thehistory of Afghanistan are:
On June 21, 1947, inBannu, aloya jirga was held consisting ofBacha Khan, his brotherChief MinisterDr Khan Sahib, theKhudai Khidmatgars, members of the Provincial Assembly,Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi), and other tribal chiefs, just seven weeks before thePartition of India. Theloya jirga declared theBannu Resolution, which demanded that the Pashtuns be given a choice to have an independent state ofPashtunistan composing all Pashtun territories of British India, instead of being made to join either India or Pakistan. However, theBritish Raj refused to comply with the demand of this resolution, in response to which the Khudai Khidmatgars boycotted the1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum for merging the province into Pakistan.[19][20]
In April 2006, formerBalochistanChief MinisterTaj Muhammad Jamali offered to arrange a meeting betweenPresidentPervez Musharraf and aloya jirga for peace inBalochistan.[21] Aloya jirga was held atKalat in September 2006 to announce that a case would be filed in theInternational Court of Justice regarding the sovereignty and rights of theBaloch people.[22][23][24][25]
The jirga was also used as acourt 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 theFrontier 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 awardcapital punishment, such asstoning to death in case of adultery, or expulsion from the community.
In the recent military operations againstal Qaeda and theTaliban 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 theKashmir Valley ofIndian-administered Kashmir.[26]
As per 2017 political dispensation in Government, unofficial Jirga and Panchayats are very popular among masses, so formal recognition of the same will help make the system more transparent and responsible, while left leaning political dispensations in opposition expressed their apprehension that weaker sections will suffer whilefeudalism will benefit.[27] The Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2017 of Pakistan makes provision for selection of neutral observing arbitrator from Government approved panel agreed by parties. If a dispute is resolved amicably the court will formalize judgement, and if not parties can choose to opt-in further formal judicial administration for their grievances.[27]Basit Mahmood criticizes the bill's provisions allowing the government to appoint "neutrals" to each jirga not being sufficient since the so-called "neutrals", who must approve their verdicts would most likely be consisting of retired judges and religious scholars of conservative nature and that will put principle of neutrality upside down and with a substantially effect on the lives of women across the Pakistan.[28]Basit Mahmood also criticizes United Kingdom's donor agency Department for International Development for funding of misogyny protecting ADR tribunals.[28]
In a January 2019 on petition fromNational Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) judgementSupreme Court of Pakistan ruled that, beyond permissible limits of the law to the extent of acting as arbitration, mediation, negotiation or reconciliation forums between parties involved in a civil dispute who willingly consent to the same; rest of practices and attempts by Jirgas to adjudicate on civil or criminal matters is not lawful, and that unlawful practices of Jirgas are violate Articles 4, 8, 10-A, 25 and 175(3) of the Constitution of Pakistan, and also that "operation of jirgas/ panchayats, etc violates Pakistan's international commitments under theUDHR,ICCPR andCEDAW, which place a responsibility on the state of Pakistan to ensure that everyone has access to courts or tribunals, (and all people) are treated equally before the law and in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals".[29]
According to correspondent I.A. Rehman, In January 2019 Pakistani government law officials from provinces and federal confirmed governments-made commitments to Supreme Court of Pakistan not to allow Panchayat and Jirga platforms for illegal practices of violating fundamental constitutional rights of women by honour killings, wani, swara, karo kari, and that the governments are committed toCEDAW[29]
In January 2018, Basit Mahmood criticized 2017 Pakistan act for Alternative Dispute Resolution saying that it creates scope for a parallel justice system which eventually can undermine states' authority.[28] As per Dilawar Wazir's June 2020 news report in Pakistani news dailyDawn and subsequent editorial, district administration in Pakistan's tribal area was struggling to see one Ahmadzai Wazir tribe avoids to implement its jirga ruling of raising a parallel armed force (lashkar) of around 2,400 people to demolish houses of left-leaning political opponents.[30] To make the tribal jirga to submit to a financial compromise, the district administration had to call in elite security force, and make victim submit to demand of 1 million rupees plus four rams as reparation from victim and his clan.[31]
As per a June 2020Tribune Pakistan report, a jirga (a type of quasikangaroo court) attempted ruling to give up a 13-year-old minor girl in marriage to a 41-year-old married man asSwara (punishment) for her brother's alleged disliked relation with his cousin, the Jirga's attempt was foiled by a close relative of the boy with help of police.[32]
In another 2020 June incident in Sindh Pakistan, police struggled to clamp down on a jirga which declared two sisters to be ignoble 'Karis' fined father of the girls for one million rupees plus ordered killing of the sisters (an outlawed but prevalent practice of declaring 'Kari's-literal black spot on honour of the family or community – subjectable to severe punishments includinghonour killing many times for alleged compromising on expectations of modesty and chastity out of suspicions).[33]
The Sindh High Court imposed a ban on the holding of jirgas in April 2004[34] because of the sometimes inhumane sentences which were imposed on people, especially on women and men who married of their own free will. The ban, however, has been ignored.[35]
An all-female jirga or a Khwaindo jirga (a "sister's council") was held in Pakistan, and it had a total of 25 members.[36] It was headed byTabassum Adnan which helped 11 women get justice as of 2013.[36][37]
On 11–14 March 2022, the Pashtun National Jirga, or Bannu Jirga, was held atMirakhel inBannu,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in order to defend the rights of the Pashtuns in the country. The critical issues which were faced by the Pashtuns were discussed during the jirga in a bid to suggest solutions to them.[38] The Bannu Jirga endorsed the declarations of two earlier Pashtun Jirgas, one of which was organized on 10 March 2020 at Bacha Khan Markaz,Peshawar byAsfandyar Wali Khan of theAwami National Party (ANP),[39][40] while the other was hosted on 7 August 2021 inHashtnagar,Charsadda byAfzal Khamosh of theMazdoor Kisan Party (MKP).[41][42]
Mahmood Khan Achakzai,Nawab Ayaz Jogezai,Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal,Abdul Qahar Wadan,Obaidullah Babat,Nasrullah Zayrai andArfa Siddiq of thePashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP),Manzoor Pashteen,Mir Kalam andWranga Loni of thePashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM),Mohsin Dawar,Latif Afridi,Afrasiab Khattak,Bushra Gohar andJamila Gilani of theNational Democratic Movement (NDM),Khadim Hussain andMaulana Khanzeb of theAwami National Party (ANP),Afzal Khamosh of theMazdoor Kisan Party (MKP),Farhatullah Babar andAhmad Kundi of thePakistan Peoples Party (PPP),Sardar Yaqoob Nasar of thePakistan Muslim League (PMLN),Muhammad Khan Sherani ofJamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), Chief ofWaziristanGul Alam Wazir, historianParvesh Shaheen, and numerous other Pashtun,Baloch andHazara leaders were part of the Bannu Jirga. The resolutions were also endorsed by several Afghan political leaders, includingHamid Karzai,Haneef Atmar andAmrullah Saleh.[43]
Some of the most important demands of the Pashtun National Jirga, 11–14 March 2022, were:
jirga (from Mongolian, 'circle')…
…Jirga = "[h]unting cirlce," with power to punish according to rule those who infringed its regulations.
Jerge has the basic meaning of "rank," "order," "row," "column," and is used in that sense in theSecret History, the Mongols' own account of the rise of their empire. By extension, however,jerge came to mean "battue," "hunting circle," or an "incircling movement" in warfare.
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