Afghans begin political fight in parliament instead of gun battle

The people of war-torn Afghanistan have taken an important step toward rebuilding their country as their representatives have given up arms and begun political fight inside the parliament house since Tuesday.

President Hamid Karzai, who formally inaugurated the 351-memebr two-chamber parliaments in a renovated building on Monday amid tight security, called on the lawmakers to serve the nation honestly and take it towards prosperity.

It is the first time in 30 years that Afghans begun experiencing parliament toward building new society and strengthening democracy in the post-Taliban conservative central Asian state.

Majority of the 249-seat Woelsi Jirga or Lower House and 102- member of Mushrano Jirga or Upper House are former anti-Soviet resistance leaders, pro-erstwhile Soviet Union elements and some former Taliban officials, who had fought against each other and were involved in war and anarchy over the past 25 years.

"We should bury the past and serve our nation through parliament as gun cannot solve our problems," said a Taliban former commander Mullah Abdul Salam Rocekti, who won a seat from his native Zabul province the former stronghold of the militants.

The newly opened legislature in its first full session on Tuesday marred by uproar as rival law makers and associates of different ideology have failed to reach agreement on the modalities of electing president of Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of the parliament.

Two former anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance leaders, the radical Islamic scholar Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf and moderate intellectual Mohammad Yunus Qanooni are among the front runners for the post of Wolesi Jirga's presidency.

Sayyaf, a Pashtun, the country's major ethnic group from west of Kabul has begun lobbying to defeat his former friend Qanooni, a Tajik, the second ethnic group from the north in the race.

Divided on ethnic lines, the influential law makers such as former president Burhanudin Rabbani and his fellow Tajiks, including former Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, spiritual leader of minority Ismaelia sect Syed Mansoor Nadiri begun supporting Qanooni while Sayyaf enjoys backing fellow Pashtuns.

Surprisingly, the bearded and turbaned Sayyaf has succeeded to muster the support of his archrival in last decade's brutal civil war the Hazara leader Hajji Mohammad Mohaqiq, who topped the contenders in Kabul on Sept. 18 legislative polls.

Over 2 million Afghans, according to officials, had been killed and 1.5 million others were maimed during 10-year resistance against the former Soviet Union occupation, brutal civil war and factional fighting over the past two and half decades.

Many of the ex-resistance leaders and officials of former regimes who found their way to parliament have been accused of committing war crimes and human right violations.

Members of the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga or the Lower House of parliament have failed to elect speaker of the house for the second on Wednesday as some of the MPs demanding the trial of the alleged war criminals through parliament.

A young lady delegate and human right activist Malai Joya, who rose to prominence in late 2003 when she openly accused many of the former resistance leaders at the historic constitutional Loya Jirga or grand assembly of committing war crimes, on Tuesday repeated her demand and called for their trials.

Dozens of delegates by pounding their fists on the tables urged her to sit down but she refused by adding, "I am an elected parliamentarian and have the right to speak my mind."

"Let us forget the past and think how to build a new Afghanistan," Hazara leader Hajji Mohammad Mohaqiq backs his former foe Sayaff in the parliament observed.

"They, the former adversaries would have killed each other if they were outside parliament, so it is good omen for us that we are settling our differences inside the house today," parliamentarian Ghiasi said.

Source: Xinhua