Shams ul Huda Shams

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Shams Ul Huda Shams, former president of Afghan Social Democratic Party (also known as Afghan Mellat- Shams faction), died on October 9, 2005, in his hometown Noorgal in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan. Shams had recently returned to his homeland after 27 years in exile and had opened and office for his party in Jalalabad.

Shamsul Huda Shams

In 1984, the Afghan Mellat founding president, Ghulam Mohammad Farhad died and in early 1987 the party congress elected Shams as its new president in recognition of his great services to the party. However, some members of the party, under a pre-planned conspiracy, refused to accept the electoral results and hence Afghan Mellat was split into three factions led by Shams Ul Huda Shams, Qudratullah Hadad and Mohammad Amin Wakman respectively. Wakman’s faction is currently led by Afghan Finance Minister, Anwar Ul Haq Ahady.

Shams established a base for his party in Peshawar during the early days of communist take-over in the country. He led his party in the face of strong opposition from religious extremist parties on one hand and the incumbent communist regime on the other. Shams had an uncompromising attitude towards communism and never agreed to strike a deal with the puppet regime in Kabul.

Shams was in favor of the establishment of a modern democratic government in the country which could retain its National Islamic character. After communist Najib’s overthrow and the Mujahideen taking power, he continued his opposition with the incumbent regime of religious parties, which he argued, was not representing the majority of the Afghan nation. Shams was especially against the Taliban regime backed by Pakistan, and an anti-Pashtun alliance that was mainly supported by Iran and Russia. Shams’s opposition has been claimed not to have been out of any ethnic prejudice for the non-Pashtun ethnic groups in Afghanistan, but to have been based on democratic principles, which qualified Pashtuns, who make up the largest ethnic group of Afghanistan population, to have a major role in the country affairs.

While in Peshawar, Shams continued to publish his party newspaper “Afghan Mellat” which published articles that produced nationalistic sentiments and called for democratic development in the war-ravaged Afghanistan. Besides writing in his party journal, he also contributed scholarly articles and essays to other newspapers and journals.

Shams kept a close friendly relationship with Pakhtun Nationalist Parties and Pashtu literary organizations of Pakistan, especially the Pakhtunkhwa Qawmi Party of Afzal Khan Lala. Fatheha Khwanis have been held in Kabul, Jalalabad, Peshawar, Karachi and Rawalpindi to pay tributes to the deceased Afghan leader.

After his death, the party congress held an emergency meeting and elected Ajmal Shams as the new Afghan Mellat Party president. Ajmal Shams, an environmental engineer by profession, holds a master degree from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and had served as environmental engineer in the state of Florida.