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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: Public representatives, civil rights activists and intellectuals turned to social media platforms to laud the former Afghan president for his response to a person who chanted slogans against him on the fifth death anniversary of Burhanuddin Rabbani.
In a ceremony on Friday, a person shouted “Death to Hamid Karzai”, when a jihadi leader Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf was delivering speech. The former president went to the podium to calm down the participants and avoid any untoward incident.
Hamid Karzai said that: “Americans say ‘death to Karzai’ everyday. The enemies of the country are trying to create differences among Afghans. Afghanistan needs peace, not division.”
Former President Hamid Karzai in a gathering held Friday to mark the fifth death anniversary of a jihadi leader and former head of the peace council, warned the people of the foreigners’ efforts to divide Afghans, calling on the Afghans to be aware of the “foreign conspiracies”.
“We are in a situation that some people under the name of Taliban call us infidels. Some of us accuse others of being Pakistan’s servants and anti-peace. Thus, we continue killing each other,” Karzai stated.
At the end, Karzai embraced a person who had shouted the “death to Karzai” slogan, saying: “foreigners are trying to divide us, but we will stand united against every foreign conspiracy.”
Condemning the slogan against the ex-president, Acting Governor of Balkh Atta Mohammad Noor, Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, and Spokesman for Junbish-e-Milli party Bashir Ahmad Tayanj, said that the response of Hamid Karzai to the person who chanted the slogans has set precedents for others to follow. They said that the example should be followed by others as Karzai tried to strengthen the national unity further and prevent the session from disruption.
On Saturday, the Wolesi Jirga in its session, called the slogans shouted against Hamid Karzai, an insult to the former president, saying it should be investigated.
Wadood Paiman, a lawmaker, called the slogan as an insult to Karzai, saying that those who shouted the slogans should be arrested.
Speaker of the Wolesi Jirga, Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi, said the shouting of slogans against the former president had saddened everybody.
“An irresponsible young man disgraced a country’s elderly figure which is an insult to the great Afghan nation,” Ibrahimi said.
He asked the elders of the country to express their sympathy with the ex-president.
In Zabul hundreds of people took to the street and commended Hamid Karzai for embracing the person who chanted slogans against him on the death anniversary of Burhanuddin Rabbani.
They said that the action of Hamid Karzai is an example for others to follow.
In a gathering attended by the council’s members, elders and people from different walks of life, Chief of the Provincial Council of Zabul, Atta Jan Haqbayan, also condemned slogans against Karzai chanted on Friday.
He said that people of the province has the right to support to condemn any action or statement against their national leaders. “A few persons who are slaves of the foreigners spoke against Hamid Karzai. We condemn this action. We ask the government to punish these people, no matter to which party they belong,” he said.
He said that these people are creating differences among Afghans and do not belong to any party but are working for foreigners. The provincial council chief urged President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah to take notice of the issue and arrest the culprits. “These people were brought by some individuals to the ceremony to speak against the former president [Karzai],” he said.
Haqbayan said that they have no conflict with any group, language or party. “Those who showed disrespect to a national leader shall be brought to the court of justice. It was a scheme to create differences among Afghans. Therefore, an investigation shall be launched to probe it,” he demanded.
Hundreds of youth, tribal elders, civil activities and religious scholars of southern Kandahar province, condemned statements against Hamid Karzai, the former president of Afghanistan on Friday during a ceremony to mark the 5th death anniversary of former High Peace Council Head, Burhanuddin Rabbani.
They held foreigners and some internal elements responsible for this act, and stressed on avoiding such incident in the future. The protestors said that ‘Afghanistan is home to all Afghans. Foreigners are hell-bent on creating differences among Afghans, therefore, Afghans shall stay united to foil such nefarious designs of the enemies.
Meanwhile, in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces, hundreds of people condemned slogans shouted against the former President, Hamid Karzai on Rabbani’s death anniversary. They said that they cannot tolerate statement against a national leader.
