KABUL - The Wolesi Jirga or lower house of Parliament on Saturday declared as invalid two laws including the Child Rights Protection Law, called for a legal review of the measures.
According to reports, the Child Rights Protection Law was added to the Wolesi Jirga agenda four times over the last four years, but could not be approved due to differences over the article 3 of the law.
On December 9, the Wolesi Jirga approved a legislative decree on the draft child rights protection law but some lawmakers opposed the article three of the law and said the quorum was incomplete for the vote.
The article three defines child who is below 18 years of age. However, opponents of the article say the article is in conflict with Islamic rules and constitution of the country.
Following chaos over the Child Rights Protection Law, the lower house tasked a team chaired by first deputy speaker Amir Khan Yar to check whether there was enough quorum on the day of voting on the law or not.
Abdullah Baig, a lawmaker form Takhar province, provided information about the team’s findings to today’s session and said the quorum was incomplete on the day of voting.
Baig said 126 lawmakers were needed to decide about legislative matters while there were only 102 lawmakers present on the day of voting on the Child Rights Protection Law. He said the law was invalid due to lack of quorum.
On the voting day, the Wolesi Jirga asked three times house secretary Karim Attal  to confirm if the quorum was complete, but Attal said that there was enough quorum for vote, he said.
Amir Khan Yar, first deputy speaker, who chaired today’s session, also said that internal duties of the house and law were violated on the day of voting and the Child Rights Protection Law was invalid.
Ramazan Bashardost, a lawmaker from Kabul, regretted the house’s decisions and said people’s representatives signed documents without reading them. (Pajhwok)