The Islamic Emirate spokesperson said that the absence of a constitution does not mean there is a legal vacuum in the country.
Two and a half years of Islamic Emirate rule have passed without any constitution in the country, and the Islamic Emirate spokesman said that having a constitution is important; however, Islamic Sharia has specified everyone’s duty in the society.
“We are not in any legal vacuum, Islamic Sharia is a comprehensive law which specify duties for everyone,” said Zabiullah Mujahid.
Law experts on the other hand consider the establishment of a constitution the most important job of a government, adding that the absence of law will lead to inconsistent dealings with similar issues.
“Now, the rule of law might be ten kinds in ten districts of the country, it means people’s issues will be dealt with differently, which is indeed a legal vacuum. A government should have a single law applying to all,” said Muhammad Zaman Muzamel, a university lecturer.
“The constitution is mother of public laws. The constitution should be the source of other small laws in the country,” said Zakiullah Muhammadi, a university lecturer.
The Islamic Emirate has suspended Afghanistan’s previous constitution and said that they are working on a new one, but details of the process have not been made public yet.
Sarwar Danish, Second Vice President, said on Tuesday at the 14th Anniversary of the Constitution that “the claim that our national constitution was distorted is totally wrong.”
“Perspective of constitutional violations, non-separation of the provisions of the law and the political agreement of the national unity never take the place of the constitution and it is safe,” Danish said, added that “the recent political agreements or the agreement over the formation of the National Unity Government should not be seen as being in violation of the constitution.”
Danish said: “If in some cases the constitution is violated, hundreds of other cases have been implemented according to it from political to cultural and to individual cases.”
He said that the constitution protects political stability and national unity.
“The importance of the constitution is not hidden from anyone and rather is as a maternal law and a national bond,” he said.
He pointed out that people violating the constitution need to be prosecuted.
Danish also rejected claims that only one article of the constitution is being implemented but does acknowledge that parts of the constitution are being violated.
“In the past 14 years most of the articles of the constitution have been implemented including the formation of a government, and securing human rights.”
He also added that an ethnic dispute is being stoked in Afghanistan which is dangerous and violates the constitution.
His remarks come a day after the findings of a joint survey by the Pajhwok Afghan News Agency and Afghanistan’s Lawyers Union (ALU) shows that in the last 14 years 94 articles of the constitution have been violated.
According to the report, out of the total 38 articles of the second chapter of the constitution, which is about the rights and obligations of the citizens, 32 articles have been violated.
The survey was conducted nationwide and 898 people were interviewed. Four out of ten interviewed said they had no knowledge about the constitution.
According to the report, 58 percent of the constitution has been violated in the past 14 years. —Tolonews
