by Ashraf Hanifi on 27 January, 2011 – 18:38
KABUL (PAN): President Hamid Karzai will nominate 34 members of the Meshrano Jirga, or upper house of Parliament, next week, an official said on Thursday.
Homayoun Azizi, the minister for parliamentary affairs, did not give a date for the nomination. But on Monday he told Pajhwok Afghan News Karzai was expected to finish the list of 34 senators that day.
The Afghan parliament was opened by Karzai on Jan. 26 without the 34 senators. Ghulam Hassan Gran, head of administrative affairs of the Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of Parliament, had told Pajhwok that the inauguration could not happen without the Senators.
A senator, Mohammad Alam Izadyar, said that under the law, the president should have appointed the senators two weeks before the inauguration.
During its special session on Thursday, the Senate asked the president to nominate the new members by Saturday.
