Mohammad Hasan Sharq
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| Mohammad Hasan Sharq | |
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| In office 26 May 1988 – 21 February 1989 |
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| President | Mohammad Najibullah |
| Preceded by | Sultan Ali Keshtmand |
| Succeeded by | Sultan Ali Keshtmand |
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| Born | 1925 |
| Political party | Independent |
Mohammad Hasan Sharq was an Afghan Politician, becoming Prime Minister of the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
He was selected as a compromise candidate after the Loya Jirga ratified a new constitution in 1987. However, the power of his office was relatively small compare with the ones of the Presidency.
[edit] Early Political Career
He also served as spokesman for then Prime Minister Mohammad Daoud Khan. When Daoud took over the Cabinet Posts of Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Foreign Minister, He appointed Dr. Hassan Sharq as his Deputy Prime Minister.
An agreement was reached in 1971 between two officers belonging to the Parcham group and Dr. Hassan Sharq who was acting on Daoud's behalf.
[edit] Prime Minister of Afghanistan
In March 1986, Afghan foreign minister Abdul Wakil invited mujaheddin leaders, former King Zahir Shah and ex-ministers from previous governments to join a government of national unity to rebuild the war-torn country.
The new parliament that convened on May 30, 1989, 2 weeks after the Geneva accords became effective and the beginning of the Soviet troop withdrawal, consisted of 184 lower house deputies and 115 senators; 62 house and 82 senate seats were left vacant for the resistance "opposition."
As a compromise candidate, Sharq was selected by President Mohammad Najibullah to be the new prime minister, replacing Sultan Ali Keshtmand.
The appointment was intended dramatically to reinforce the point that the PDPA was going to take a back seat. However, the new constitution vested key powers in the Presidency, and President Najibullah did not give up that central role.
Sharq had served as the regime's deputy prime minister since June 1987 and before that as its Ambassador to India. In any event, Sharq's association with the Parcham faction, dating back to the Mohammad Daoud government, made the "non-PDPA" appellation meaningless.
Likewise, on June 7, when Sharq announced his cabinet, consisting of 11 new members and 10 former ones, the nonparty credentials of the "new" ministers were undermined by the fact that most had served the regime government previously in other capacities. Furthermore, the powerful ministries of interior, state security, and foreign affairs remained in PDPA hands.
The major exception was the effort to enlist a resistance commander or a respected retired general from an earlier era to become minister of defense. This post remained open for some time, but in August it was finally given to Army Chief of Staff General Shahnawaz Tanai of the Khalq faction.
Thus, almost 2 years after he announced the national reconciliation policy in January 1987, President Najibullah was unable to attract a single major figure of the resistance or prominent Afghan refugee to join the government.
During 1988, two new provinces were created -Sar-e-pol in the north and Nuristan in the northeast- by carving out territory from adjoining provinces. In each case, the purpose appears to have been to create a new entity where an ethnic minority-the Hazaras and Nuristanis respectivelywould dominate.
This readjustment would guarantee representation in the new parliament for these ethnic groups.
At the same time, the Sharq government has abolished the special ministry for nationalities that carries connotations of a Soviet-style system.
On Febreary 1989, Sharq resigned from the government of President Najibullah, a move underscoring the failure thus far by Afghans to establish a government of national reconciliation.
A resident of the Anar Dara district in the western Farah province, Dr Hasan Sharq had been prime minister in the Dr Najeebullah government from 1986 to 1990. He also served as spokesman for then prime minister Daud Khan and his Milli Ghurzang Party.
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