Sibghatullah Mojaddedi
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| Sibghatullah Mojaddedi | |
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| In office April 27, 1992 – June 28, 1992 |
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| Preceded by | Mohammad Najibullah |
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| Succeeded by | Burhanuddin Rabbani |
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| Born | 1926 Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Political party | Afghan National Liberation Front |
Sibghatullah Mojaddedi (born 1926). He served as the first President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan after the fall of the communist regime in 1992. He is also the leader of the Afghan National Liberation Front.
Professor Mojaddedi transferred power to President Burhanuddin Rabbani after serving a two-month term, based on a prior agreement that was reached by the Mujahideen forces in Pakistan. He couldn't establish any types of reconciliation among the Mujahideen fractions.
In recently political activities during the Taliban power, Mojaddedi was not involved. In December 2003, he served as the chairman of the Loya Jirga that approved Afghanistan's new constitution.
He turned off the microphone of a female delegate Malalai Joya [1] at the 2003 Loya Jirga for speaking against the warlords and Mujahidden leaders, and her saying that many of them should be tried in an international court. Movie Clip of Loya Jirga After these accusations, Mojaddedi wanted to expel her from the assembly. However, due to intercession of others there, she was not immediately expelled. She later remained for a couple days under UN protection due to death threats from some of the warlords she had accused. Mojaddedi's actions led to controversy, since some, such as feminist critics, have later accused him of wanting to expel her because she was a woman, although she was only one of 114 women delegates at the 2003 Loya Jirga. The other point of view is that these kinds of accusations, while in the process of forming a government, are very disruptive. In the transcripts of this incident, all of Mojaddedi's comments are related to the disruptive nature of her accusations, and none of his comments relate to her being a woman. If Malalai Joya had been allowed to continue with her accusations, the Loya Jirga could have failed in complete chaos, and no Afghan government would have been formed - which was the primary responsibility of the day. This could be seen as the never-ending tension between the need to be practical vs. idealism, and Mojaddedi chose the practical course which eventually lead to the successful formation of an Afghan government.
Recently he was elected as the leader of the legislature's 102-seat upper house, the Meshrano Jirga, for a 5 year term, and is also chairman of "National Commission for Peace in Afghanistan".
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[edit] Early Years
He belongs to the Mojaddedis, known as descendants of the Mujaddid Ahmad Sirhindi. He was born in 1925 in Kabul province in Afghanistan.
He is a well regarded Islamic scholar and one of the most prominent and prolific advocates of an independent Afghanistan since the early 1950s.
He completed post-graduate study at al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, focusing on Islamic Law and Jurisprudence. In Afghanistan, he taught at Habibia High School after his graduation, and later in the Kabul University.
Mojaddedi was imprisoned from 1959 to 1964, falsely accused of involvement in a plot to assassinate Soviet Prime Minister, Nikita Khrushchev. He also participated in anti-reformist and anti-Soviet demonstrations in Kabul in 1970.
Fearing repression, he chose exile after Daoud's coup in 1973. Forced to flee the country in order to escape arrest, In exile he carried out the responsibility of the Copenhagen Mosque in Denmark.
[edit] The Soviet Invasion ( 1979 - 1989 )
In 1979 he founded the Afghan National Liberation Front, an Islamic, traditional party . Although his party's military might remained marginal due to a bias in weapons distribution by the Pakistani ISI, Mujaddadi remained a highly respected leader among the Mujahideen.
His reputation as a moderate was finally recognised in 1989, when he was selected as the head of the Interim Islamic State of Afghanistan. Also as head of the Interim Afghan Government, he met with then President of the United States George H.W. Bush.
He was ready to assume his position when, on April 1992, the Mujaheddin enter Kabul, and the government of President Mohammad Najibullah collapsed. A cease-fire was achieved with Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani of the Jamait-i-Islami recognized as the head of the guerrilla coalition and of the country.
[edit] President of the Republic
Eleven days later, in an agreement that excluded the Shi'a parties and the Hizb-i Islami led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the parties in Kabul announced that Sibghatullah Mojaddedi would become president for two months, followed by Burhanuddin Rabbani of the Jamiat-i-Islami for four years.
During this period, a Loya Jirga, or grand council of Afghan elders, would convene and designate an interim administration to hold power for up to a year, pending elections. But in May 1992, Rabbani prematurely formed the leadership council, undermining Mojaddedi’s fragile authority.
In June, Mojaddedi surrendered power to the Leadership Council, which then elected Rabbani president. Rejecting the arrangement, Hekmatyar launched massive and indiscriminate rocket attacks on Kabul that continued intermittently for three years, until he was forced out of the Kabul area in February 1995.
His decision to declare a general state of amnesty for all citizens regardless of political ties until the legal system of the country had been rehabiliated is one of his presidency's legacies.
Mojaddedi completed his term in office and returned to private. During Taliban rule, he settled in Pakistan.
[edit] Post-Taliban
In December 2003, Professor Mojaddedi was elected to serve as the chairman of the Loya Jirga, and under his leadership the Loya Jirga was able to approve a new constitution for the country.
When the constitutional loya jirga began its proceedings, Mojaddedi named a woman as one of his three deputies thus ensuring active female participation in the proceedings.
Since March 16, 2005, serving as the chairman of the National Commission for Peace in Afghanistan, professor Mojaddedi has been working to bring about country-wide reconciliation. He was appointed to this post by president Hamid Karzai.
The commission's objective is to promote reconciliation. In a press conference held on May 9, 2005 in Kabul, Mojaddedi announced that participation in the reconciliation process is open to all Afghans, including Mullah Omar (head of the Taliban) and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
He claimed that his remarks were misconstrued by the media, and that it was up to the Afghan nation to pardon or punish Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. He also stated that policies change with time, and added that the reconciliation commission was working independently with full backing from President Karzai.
Mojaddedi was quoted as saying: "If they accept Afghanistan's new basic law and give up fighting, they may be forgiven. But personally speaking, I can't let them off them because I don't have the right."
On December 18th 2005, Afghanistan's parliament elected Sibghatullah Mojadidi as the leader of the legislature's 102-seat upper house, the Meshrano Jirga, for a 5 year term.
On March 12, 2006, Mojaddedi survived a suicide bomb attack against him when attackers detonated a car full of explosives near his vehicle as he was being driven along a busy road. Two bombers and two bystanders were killed, while Mojaddedi himself only suffered light wounds. Mojaddedi blamed the ISI (Pakistan Secret Service) for being the primary force behind the attacks, which he said was carried out by former Taliban. Mojaddedi is also the head of an official Afghan peace commission which has offered amnesty to former Taliban and is encouraging them to lay down their arms.[2]
He now lives in Kabul.
[edit] Trivia
- Mojaddedi is often referred to as Pir, meaning saint or elder, as he is the oldest member of the Naqshbandi sufi order. His family holds the rank of pir (saint) in the Sufi order which is the basis for its large religious following throughout Afghanistan.
- Mojaddedi is a conservative Maulawi. His party, consists essentially of Naqshbandi
- Mojaddedi is also a Shaykh of the Mujaddidiya branch of the Naqshbandi Sufi order.
- In Florida in June, 2002, Mojaddedi was pulled out of a boarding line to a Virgin Atlantic flight to London by security officials, in order to conduct an additional search of his baggage. Airport security screeners said they heard him speak about an Islamic liberation organization and say, I know you're looking for a bomb, and God will revenge this, according to police. The comments were made in English but misinterpreted by the screeners, neither of whom spoke English as a first language. Mojadded was in Florida at the time to attend a wedding. [3]
| Preceded by Mohammad Najibullah |
President of Afghanistan April 1992 – June 1992 |
Succeeded by Burhanuddin Rabbani |
