KABUL (PAN): Meshrano Jirga -- upper house of parliament-- members on Sunday failed to take a decision on the issue of tribe’s name in new computerised identity cards (CNICs).
Earlier in the week, the Wolesi Jirga decided against the tribe’s name in ID cards, but approved the inclusion of the holder’s last name and religion.
The law of population census having seven chapters and 39 articles was dispatched to senate after its approval by the lower house.
A senator from Bamyan, Hidayatullah Rihayee, said the tribe’s name be mentioned in the ID cards to promote national unity.
“Excluding this provision will amount to disloyalty to the nation,” he remarked, asking all Afghans to stand united on the issue.
“Afghans should tolerate each other and let all tribes be mentioned in the cards,” concurred another legislator from Samangan, Mohammad Asif Azimi.
But a lawmaker from Khost, Arifullah Pashtun, alleged some foreign countries had paid large sums of money to some people to ensure the inclusion of the tribe name in the ID cards.
It was a project of foreigners aimed at dividing the people of Afghanistan into tribes and alienating them from one another, he claimed.
Similarly, Zabul public representative Mohammad Daud Hasas said: “The word Afghan isn’t confined to Pashtuns; it applies to all tribes of the country.
“For example, if Tajik is written in the ID card, what will people think? Whether the person is from Tajikistan or Afghanistan”