Pakistani jirga commission to talk with Afghan counterpart in Kabul

Members of the Pakistan jirga commission will leave for Kabul Thursday for the second meeting of the Pak-Afghan jirga commission meeting, an Interior Ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

The jirga members will also call on Afghan President Hamid Karzai, spokesman Brig (retd) Javeed Iqbal Cheema told a news conference.

It would be the second meeting of the jirga commission to discuss proposals about the convening of the meeting of jirga, or council of elders to strengthen security along the common borders.

The first meeting of the joint commission was held in Islamabad in February this year.

The idea of jirga was floated when U.S. President George W. Bush hosted Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Karzai in the White House in September last year.

Cheema said that the aim of the commission was to establish people-to-people contact, defuse tension between the two countries and bring stability in the region.

He said that the jirga commission would also discuss rehabilitation and repatriation of Afghan refugees and border control.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao will head the Pakistani jirga commission while Pir Syed Gailani will lead the Afghan commission in the talks.

Source: Xinhua