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Karzai called on delegates to work towards consensus
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KABUL,
January 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A dispute over one
word stood in the way of Afghanistan's grand assembly agreeing on a
new draft constitution Saturday, January 3, with delegates unable to
reach a consensus on the country's official language.
At
the close of the loya jirga assembly, chairman Sebghatullah Mujadadi
said the issue of national languages was the only one still to be
resolved.
"Unfortunately
I would say that we could not reach final agreement today and we
failed to reach a final agreement. The session is delayed until
tomorrow," Mujadadi was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as
saying.
"We
have reached an agreement on the whole constitution but there is only
one word remaining," he said.
The
director of the secretariat for the loya jirga, Farooq Wardak, said
the word in dispute was "official".
While
the Uzbek ethnic grouping thinks its language should be the country's
third official language after Pashtu and Dari, other delegates said it
should only be the third official language in those areas where it was
widely spoken.
Representatives
from across multi-ethnic Afghanistan were Saturday meeting United
Nations special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalizad
and members of the Constitutional Commission to finalize the landmark
document that will pave the way for the country's first democratic
elections.
'Consensus'
Delegates
were due to meet again Sunday morning to come to a final agreement on
the document, which paves the way for the introduction of historic
democratic elections.
"It's
too early to comment on what has been resolved and what remains (to be
resolved), but what I can tell you is that the major things have been
resolved," Safia Siddiqi, deputy chairwoman of the loya jirga, or
grand assembly, told reporters.
Earlier
Saturday, President Hamid Karzai called on hundreds of delegates who
have boycotted a vote on the new constitution to work towards
consensus, in a move aimed at dampening bitter ethnic rivalries.
"The
purpose is to have a constitution that reflects the views and
considerations and interests of all the people of Afghanistan.
"Therefore,
it is important to have a constitution that comes with near consensus,
if not total consensus," Karzai told reporters at the
Presidential palace.
Most
of the draft's 160 articles have been agreed without opposition. But
after nearly three weeks of heated debate, more than 200 of the 502
delegates boycotted Thursday's vote on five contentious articles in
the draft constitution.
