KABUL - The Meshrano Jirga --- upper house of parliament --- on Sunday asked the foreign minister to brief the International Affairs Commission on a British lawmaker's plan for the division of Afghanistan.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood reportedly outlined a new political structure for Afghanistan in a confidential memo. The structural shakeup of Afghanistan's political system has been planned to take effect in 2014, reported a Kabul-based newspaper, Weesa. The Senate issued a statement, saying Ellwood proposed a decentralized political system in Afghanistan would yield the best results for the British government.

According to his plans, Afghanistan will be divided into eight states whose capitals would be Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz, Jalalabad, Khost and Bamyan.

Ellwood proposed that foreign countries should directly influence the decisions made by these eight states. Furthermore, he asserted that Afghanistan's new political system should involve a prime minister besides a president.

Based on Ellwood's plans, the control over some areas of Afghanistan should be handed over to the Taliban so that they become part of the country's political system. He also recommended that if President Karzai agreed with the proposed shakeup, he would be rewarded with the opportunity to run for a third term.

The upper house said that if the plan was real, the Afghan government should mount pressure on the UK and its parliament through diplomatic channels to draw their attention toward preventing such a conspiracy.
In his remarks, MP from Farah province Gul Ahmad Azimi said Afghanistan was one nation and no one could divide it on ethnic and linguistic basis. He added the Britons believed that the Afghans had forgotten their history and were no more celebrating their independence from British rule.

Senator Dr. Zalmai Zabuli asked the government to determine who was behind the plot.

Chairman Fazl Hadi Muslimyar said no one had the right to break up Afghanistan, asking the foreign minister to brief the house panel on the subject. His remarks were endorsed by a majority of lawmakers.
The MPs also called for the arrest of the people who created problems for Kabul residents while observing the martyrs' week.

A day earlier, two people were killed and several others wounded during a clash with police after a convoy of vehicles carrying supporters of Ahmad Shah Massoud injured a resident. (Pajhwok)