Rasul Amin

Professor Rasul Amin (Pashto: رسول امين ‎) was a renowned Afghan politician, social figure, writer and former education minister.

Early life and education

Professor Rasul Amin was born on May 10, 1939 in a cultural diversity area, Wata Pur District of eastern Kunar Province through which Alexandar The Great, Hindus, and all of other conquers passed through this beautiful valley of Afghanistan. Rasul Amin was son of a prominent khan of the Amin tribe. His mother, Hera Amin cultural background was Greece (Nooristan). He was a great nephew of Ghazi Mir Zaman Khan. He was raised as an orphan, because his mother died when he was 5 years old. His personality was self made, and that made him positive throughout his life. His father, Amin Khan participated in the uprising with the leading attorney general, Ghazi Mir Zaman Khan in 1947. Due to the bad government he was forced to depart with Ghazi Mir Zaman Khan to Herat and Mazar-e Sharif. Rasul completed his primary education in Kunar.^[1] In 1955, he went to Peshawar, Pakistan where he wanted to desire further more studies and gather his English and Urdu languages. Overall he knew how to speak 4 languages, including Pushto and Dari. After learning the two languages, he got an admission at Forward College, and graduated in 1960. In 1960, he was admitted to Islamia College Peshawar, Pakistan. He was elected as a General-Secretary of the Khyber Union, (students’ union), in 1962, a unique, unprecedented honour for an Afghan student. In 1963, he was voted the best debater at college. He received a BA in 1964 and a Double Masters Degree in Sociology, English and Political Science in 1966.^[2]

Soviet resistance

From 1980 to 1985 he worked with the National Islamic Front of Pir Sayed Ahmad Gillani in Peshawar. 1990s, he worked with the Rome Group that was established by the former King, Muhammad Zaher Shah. He initially worked with the renowned Afghan intellectual Professor Seyyed Bahauddin Majrooh at the Afghanistan Information Centre (AIC). The AIC became a respected mouthpiece of liberal Afghan intellectuals linked to the resistance but drew the wrath of the fundamentalist factions. Prof. Majrooh was assassinated in Peshawar in 1988 after the AIC had published the results of a poll among Afghan refugees that showed that the former King was the most popular Afghan politician, way ahead of the mujahedin leaders. On 21 March 1985, Rasul established the Organization Writers Union of Free Afghanistan, which, as the AIC, was supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Germany), USIS, the Asia Foundation (USA), and the Royal Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Denmark). Like the AIC, it became a renowned institution that – amongst other activities – collected documents on the Afghan resistance, one of the few to do so. He was one of the great politicians and a well known scholar of Afghanistan. He dedicated his entire life for helping his Afghanistan milat and had dream of seeing a united afghan people. Professor had written tens of books and magazines about literature, culture and sociology. He was the first author of English, Pashto and Dari language, in Asia, Africa around the world.

Civil war

In 1990 Rasul Amin warned that 'If the United States cuts or reduces its aid to the Afghan cause, it will be replaced by the Arabs. Afghanistan would not be at peace for a long time.' Amin's prediction came true when in the 90s the US and the Soviet left a power vacuum and a civil war broke out where the warring factions were all supported by one of Afghans neighbour countries. Rasul Amin, one of the most notable Afghan Scholars, at that time always kept an automatic rifle behind his chair and a pistol on his desk.^[3] In 1996 he said about that Afghan Civil War "This is not truly an Afghan fight. Only a few people who want power sell themselves to foreigners."^[4]

Post-Taliban Afghanistan

Rasul also played an important role in Rome Conference held in 2001 under the supervision of former king Mohammad Zahir Shah. After the fall of the Taliban regime, Prof. Amin returned to Afghanistan. At the Bonn conference, he was appointed Minister of Education in the Interim Administration of Afghanistan, representing the Rome Group. When the new school year was opened in March 2002, he said: We have decided to project a new image of ourselves. We have to forget the past if we want to rebuild this country.’During his ministry he visited Japan and met with Emperor of Japan.

Professor Rasul Amin organized peace conference, seminars and workshops for Afghanistan. The most famous seminar was in Pearl Continental, Peshawar, Pakistan during 1991, whose chief guest and chair person was Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto. A lot of other scholars and prominent figures was invited on this Peace conference . Professor was very popular and famous in a group of friends. Louis Dupree and his wife, Nancy Hatch Dupree and Christina Eckerly was very close friends of him.

In 2001, Rasul Amin became the first Education Minister of Afghanistan. He stated that Afghan girls be given priority in their education and said, "there was a big task to rebuild his homeland (Afghanistan) education system after 24 years of unrest". That was his "to do" list in his early days as Afghanistan education minister. He was so committed to fulfill his duties. He was posted in 2002 and he resigned. He decided to devote himself fully to the intellectual regeneration of Afghanistan and to Afghan-Pak friendship. The 2004 article ‘Resolving the Afghan-Pakistan Border Question’ is only one in a long list of his writings.

Prof. Amin established the Afghanistan Study Centre (ASC) in Kabul as the successor of WUFA. The founder also became its director and the editor of the Journal of Afghanistan Studies quarterly. He served as the Minister of Education in the interim Transitional Administration under President Hamid Karzai.^[2] While being a Minister of Education, he looked after oprhan homes, schools etc. He really wanted that woman of Afghanistan should be educated. While he was in Afghanistan, he established the Afghanistan Study Centre (ASC).^[1]

Rasul Amin travelled all around the world. He travelled too many countries such as, America, Denmark, Switzerland, Iran, Poland, Egypt, India, Germany, France, Rome, United Kingdom, Africa, Japan, Tajikistan and Australia. While he was in Egypt, he met with Anwar Sadat. Out of all of the countries he travelled to, his particular favourite was Melbourne, Australia. He believed it was a good living place. He was in America, before his final destination to Australia.

He settled with all of his family members to Australia. He has 7 children, 3 sons and 4 daughters. The eldest is Shamim Amin Akbar, followed by Yasmin Amin Safi, Eimal Amin, the middle child, Tatara Amin Zamani, Pushtana Amin Habib, Atal Amin and the youngest, Kochie Amin. All of his children was his favourite and he treated everyone one of them equally.

Professor Abdul Rasul Amin died on October 31, 2009 at 6.15 am,Saturday morning in Melbourne, Australia due to Cancer. He wanted to be buried next to Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani's grave in Kabul University. But with no permission from the Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, he was buried in Kerala where his parents are buried too. People like Professor Amin are born once in century, he dedicated all of his life for Afghanistan Freedom, He left behind his courageous wife, Benazir Amin, 3 sons and 4 daughters. All of them are settled peacefully in Australia. He has now 29 beautiful grandchildren.^[1]

References