Jirga
customary legal assembly among the Pashtun people
A jirga (Pashto: جرګه, jərga) is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic groups who are influenced by them in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Historically, a loya jirga or a "great council" has been convened in order to elect a new head of state, approve a new constitution or resolve critical issues. Loya jirgas have reportedly been organized since the rise to power of the Hotak dynasty in the early 18th century. In July 1747, Pashtun chiefs assembled in Kandahar to elect a new king, choosing the 25-year-old Ahmad Shah Durrani, who is credited with founding the modern state of Afghanistan.
Etymology
The word jirga is cognate to Middle Mongol noun, ǰerge (originally meaning rank and order), referring to a large assembly of men forming a very broad circle, initially intended for laying siege around game or animals to be hunted for food or sport. Pashtun elders also typically sit in a circle when debating and hearing a given dispute during a tribal jirga.
In Pashto, a grand jirga is known as loya jirga (لویه جرګه, lōya jərga). A mini-jirga is called jirgagai (جرګګۍ, jərgagəy).
Origin and historicity
The institution, which is centuries old, is a similar idea to the Islamic shura ("consultative assembly").
“Jirga” enters the record as customary legal assembly among the Pashtun people. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Jirga, customary and legal can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jirga” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.