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Sayyaf against ceding autonomy to Taliban
AT News Report-KABUL: The fourth death anniversary of former vice president and prominent jihadi leader Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim was commemorated on Friday in Kabul. In the gathering in Loya Jirga pavilion, former President Hamid Karzai said that Afghanistan will remain united and that is owing to prominent national figures.
Reminiscing about Marshal Fahim, former president Karzai called him a true patriot and said his death was a huge loss for Afghanistan. He said that foreigner once tried to persuade Marshal to create a separate government in Afghanistan. But he turned them down. Karzai articulated that Afghanistan had incessantly been subjected to foreign-injected conspiracies in particular during the last five decades; albeit, presence of national figures such as Wazir Akbar Khan, Abdullah Khan Chekzai, Aminullah Khan Logari, Mir Bacha Khan, Mir Masjedi Khan, Marshal Fahim, Ahmad Shah Masoud, Abdul Haq, Haji Qadir and other prominent leader saved this country from the quagmires.
Veteran former jihadi leader Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf also spoke on the occasion and explicitly articulated his opposition to receding a specific region in the name of ‘peace zone’ to the Taliban for initiating peace talks with the rebels. Sayyaf said the government should reconcile with the Taliban but not at the expense of the nation’s wealth. The former jihadi leader said it would not be a peace zone but a conspiracy zone. Sayyaf said peace was the desire of the nation and the Taliban should be shared the whole of the country not a specific region. Sayyaf said no one could divide the country until he was alive. He asked CEO Abdullah Abdullah to do away with the virus of foreign agents because Afghanistan was a battle zone due to these foreign spies. “We need to find a good vaccine for the spy virus,” said Sayyaf, defending mujahedeen by saying the country’s honor was linked to them. “Those not good for this country are afraid of mujahideen.”
Speaking on the occasion, chairman of the Senate Fazl Hadi Muslimyar encouraged all Afghans to follow in footsteps of late Marshal Fahim.
CEO Abdullah Abdullah also said that Marshal Fahim had devoted his entire life for the unity of the Afghan people, and that his path will continue eternally. Abdullah said it was Marshal’s vision that Afghanistan shouldn’t reverse to its past. “Despite considerable breakthroughs, Afghanistan is still in a bad situation. If we ignore internal conflicts and cling to injustice and tribalism, we will face even worse,” he said. Pointing to President Ghani’s recent unconditional peace proposition to the Taliban, Abdullah said an end to the war was what people demanded; and it will be in the interest of Afghanistan if the Taliban accepted to embrace peace and cut ties with terrorists and begin their political life within the Afghan government.
Hinting to the constitution, Abdullah said that any amendment to the constitution, except issues clearly defined, will be taken through Loya Jirga by representatives of the people. He said that if any secret deal took place in the framework of the peace process, then peace will remain to be a dream. Regarding elections, Dr. Abdullah said, “although though we have failed to assure people, if the upcoming elections happens to resemble the past one, then what our response to the people would be. Thus, vote should take place transparently and devoid of rigging in all districts and provinces”.
President’s Advisor Taj Mohammad Jahid presented to the audience President Ghani’s massage in which he praised Marshal Fahim’s diligent struggle for unity and called him a ‘famed figure’ of Afghanistan who stood by people’s side in difficult circumstances.
Meanwhile, Adib Fahim, son of Marshal Fahim, spoke during the gathering and said his father had struggled for unity and mutual respect of the Afghan nation. “Unity is possible only if Afghan accept each other, irrespective of ethnicity.” He said that Taliban should be encouraged to join the political system, not be ceded certain regions.
Marshal Qasim Fahim was born in Omarz, a small village in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province. He finished his studies in Islamic Sharia law at an Arabic institute in Kabul in 1977. He was a prominent leader during the jihad against the Soviet forces. He also undertook many high-ranking positions during former president Karzai’s government, such as being the vice president to Karzai. Marshal Fahim died of diabetes at age of 57 on 9th March 2014.
