Parliament

KABUL (PAN): The Meshrano Jirga -- or upper house of the parliament -- on Sunday asked the government to summon the Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan over a recent shooting incident at the border that killed and wounded several Afghans.

KABUL (PAN): Members of the Meshrano Jirga -- or upper house of the parliament -- on Sunday said the incoming Pakistan government would not help Afghanistan and asked the Karzai administration to review its policy toward the neighbouring country.

KABUL (PAN): Some Wolesi Jirga members on Sunday insisted on summoning the finance minister, warning that the parliament would lose its credibility if the deadlock on the issue persisted.
Lawmakers decided to summon the ministers of finance and interior who had accused them of having hand in drug trafficking and other illegal activities.

KABUL (PAN): A majority of Wolesi Jirga members on Saturday voted overwhelmingly for barring colleagues from withdrawing their requests to summon a minister, ending tension within the lower house.
The vote came after some legislators withdrew the forms they had submitted for summoning Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal and Interior Minister Mujtaba Patang.

KABUL (PAN): Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi on Wednesday adjourned the Wolesi Jirga's session amid blows traded between two members over the issue of summoning Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhelwal.
Ibrahimi asked security officials to expel lawmaker Mohammad Hassan Fahimi after he asked him to expose the names of the members who had allegedly made illegal demands on Zakhelwal.

KABUL (PAN): The Meshrano Jirga -- or upper house of parliament -- decided on Tuesday to summon Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhelwal to give the names of the lawmakers making illegal demands on the Ministry of Finance.

KABUL (PAN): The Wolesi Jirga -- or lower house of parliament -- on Monday summoned Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhelwal, but the Karzai cabinet member said he would not appear before lawmakers.
“The parliamentarians accused Zakhelwal of violating the law in five cases and asked him to offer them an explanation on Saturday,” a spokesman for the finance ministry, Najib Manalai, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

KABUL (PAN): A parliamentary delegation that visited Goshta district in eastern Nangarhar province on Monday told the lower house Pakistani forces were building military posts in the area over the past decade due to the government’s negligence.

KABUL (PAN): Members of the Meshrano Jirga -- or upper house of the parliament -- on Sunday provided cash assistance to relatives of a slain border policeman, asking the government to honour his family.
Mohammad Qasim was killed during a seven-hour clash between Afghan and Pakistani forces in the Konsari area of the Goshta district in eastern Nangarhar province on Wednesday night.