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[ English Section ] [ Feedback ] Published in issue #464 on 12 March 2001
Afghans in Washington protest cultural terrorismWashington, DC, March 8 (Omaid): In a protest rally organized by a diverse group of Afghans not affiliated with any political or media entities, the Taliban militia’s obliteration of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage was decried and forcefully condemned as a monstrous crime against both that country and the world. Interspersed between the reading of statements by several individuals and messages of support from a number of US Congressmen, protestors shouted slogans of “Death to Pakistan” and “Taliban are puppets of Pakistan,” while standing across from the US Department of State. Among the speakers were Ustad Amanullah Haiderzad, Afghanistan’s most famous sculptor; Mr. Abdul-Rahman Nowroz, who was also the rally announcer; Mr. Kaweem M. Koshan, who delivered a message from Omaid Weekly (see below); Dr. Michael Vlahos, a former professor at Johns Hopkins University and once a Reagan administration official; Ms. Ottilie English, an Afghan observer who read a statement on behalf of her brother, US Representative Phil English; and Ms. Nasrine Gross, who used the occasion to highlight International Women’s Day. Also read were statements sent by prominent US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, as well as Representatives Edward Royce and Tom Davis. Near the end of the rally, a resolution drafted by protestors was read by Ms. Hasina Kazem, who along with Ustad Haiderzad then delivered a copy to the State Department. Following is Omaid Weekly’s statement at the rally: Breaking the Buddhas and Pakistan’s Genocide Against AfghanistanUS Secretary of State Colin Powell said it best, when Tuesday he declared the Taliban militia’s destruction of the great Buddhas of Bamyan a “tragedy,” “horrible” and “a crime against humankind.” Indeed, the war in Afghanistan, which for so long has purposely been misnomered a “civil war,” is a campaign of genocide waged by Taliban-patriarch Pakistan. In condemning such barbarism, it must be made clear that the responsible party will be held accountable. In this case, it is not just the Taliban, but Pakistan – the Pakistani government and its military establishment. By now, it is a proven fact that the Taliban are wholly a Pakistani enterprise, and that the militia is operated by Pakistan’s nefarious secret agency, the InterServices Intelligence Directorate. With Pakistan’s destruction of the Buddha’s of Bamyan, and the robbery of all of Afghanistan’s historic treasures, Islamabad has taken one step closer to fully realizing its campaign of genocide against the nation of Afghanistan. Yes, genocide. You have not heard this term used in reference to Afghanistan. But what Pakistan is doing through the Taliban as well as through the direct intervention of its own army is genocide. The 1948 Genocide Convention defined genocide as follows:
And Pakistan has committed every single one of these acts because Islamabad is hell-bent on destroying, in whole, not only particular ethnic groups, but the entire nation of Afghanistan. The Pakistanis, first through proxy and now directly, have killed tens of thousands of Afghans. In Kabul, alone, over 60,000 were slaughtered between 1992 and 1996. And since then, as many, if not more Afghans have been massacred by Islamabad with the direct participation of Pakistani terrorist groups, Pakistani paratroopers and Pakistan Army regulars. And these verified massacres continue unabated. Those not killed in Pakistan’s onslaught are subjected to serious bodily or mental harm. Eyewitnesses, independent sources, and verified reports have fully documented the mutilation and torture of Afghans -- men and women, young and old -- by Pakistani forces and proxies. All segments of Afghanistan’s society have been forced to endure severe mental hardships through humiliation and outright brutality. Men are treated like animals and women have altogether ceased to exist. In its genocide campaign, Pakistan has separated men from their families. They are then mutilated, used as cannon fodder or summarily executed. The women are raped or forcibly married-off to Taliban, Arab or Pakistani terrorists. The children are sold into slavery. Even livestock, farmland, orchards, forests and dwellings have not been spared by Pakistan. Pakistan saw that it could not subdue Afghanistan in combat. So, it has chosen to simply annihilate its population by killing the living and inhibiting a future generation. And now, Pakistan is attempting to wipe out Afghanistan from the pages of history.We will not let the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan fade away like every other news sensation. We will not let Pakistan continue its genocide in Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan are no less valuable than the victims of World War II or Kosova. The tragedies in Afghanistan, in general, and the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan and other treasures of Afghanistan, in particular, are contrary to both Islamic Law and any man-made laws. And we cannot afford to abandon the staunch resistance effort in Afghanistan that currently stands alone against Pakistan’s genocide campaign. The world must take immediate, resolute and effective measures to stop Pakistan from not only destroying Afghanistan’s past, but from destroying the present nation of Afghanistan through the most foul of crimes, genocide. And rest assured, the same fanatics Pakistan employs to commit genocide in Afghanistan, like the Taliban and their financier Osama bin Laden, will be the very same terrorists and madmen who will one day rampage through all of Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Australia and the Americas. Let us help to free Afghanistan from the Taliban and Pakistani aggression, just as Afghanistan gave 1 million dead to help save the world from communism and the Soviet threat. Otherwise, if Afghanistan dies, the entire free world will die, too. This protest rally, which has been organized by all segments of the Afghan and Afghan-American community, and which is not represented or organized by any single person or political interest, is a step in the right direction. And we know that from this protest rally, the world has heard the cry of Afghanistan. Now they must act. Afghan gov’t berates omnibus barbarism of the TalibanThe text of a statement delivered on March 9 to the United Nations General Assembly by Dr. Mohammad Younus Bazel, Charge d’ Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of the Islamic State of Afghanistan to the UN. Dr. Bazel, once a university lecturer, is one of Afghanistan’s senior political scientists. Over the years, we have heard of Taliban barbarism against living beings such as acts of summary executions, ethnic cleansing, gender apartheid, forced deportation of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, separation of women from their menfolk, torching and leveling of homes, destruction of irrigation systems, canals and orchards and means of subsistence, systematically carried out by the Pakistan-Taliban-bin Laden Triangle in the occupied parts of Afghanistan. Yet, events during the past two weeks in these occupied parts reveal a new dimension to the dark and ominous undertakings by the Pakistan-Taliban-bin Laden Triangle, namely cultural genocide. The Triangle had begun its campaign of cultural genocide through the burning of thousands of ancient Persian manuscripts and literature books in Baghlan, appropriately condemned by UNESCO, the destruction of paintings by the renowned and respected miniaturist Professor Mash'al in Herat, as well as banning the Persian New Year’s Day of Naoroz celebrated in Afghanistan for thousands of years. Likewise, pursuant to its hatred of the rich culture of the Persian-speaking Afghans, the Triangle banned the use of the Persian language, the lingua franca of Afghanistan for centuries, as the working language in the areas under occupation. Additionally, the Triangle had embarked on a policy of ‘social engineering’ with the aim of changing the demographic composition of Afghanistan’s provinces through the relocation and dislocation of the native inhabitants of central and northern parts of Afghanistan to disturb the harmonious fraternal coexistence of ethnic groups that has existed for hundreds of years. This has been a despotic plan by the Triangle to engulf Afghanistan in flames of ethnic hatred and ethnic cleansing. In line with the policy of cultural genocide, Mullah Omar, Pakistan's puppet and Taliban chieftain, issued a decree on 26 February 2001 ordering the demolition of pre-Islamic relics in Afghanistan. This constitutes barbarism against non-living beings, now that the Taliban have mastered barbarism against living beings. This infamous decree, lunatic and ludicrous in nature, amply reflective of a pre-planned, diabolical scheme by the ruling Pakistani junta -- the main force behind the talibanization of the region -- is aimed at the annihilation of the historical and cultural identity of Afghanistan. Joining the international community's outcry, the Islamic State of Afghanistan strongly condemned the issuance of this despicable decree and the subsequent destruction of statues, an act which is definitely anti-Islamic, anti-cultural and anti-Afghan. Iran funds Cyprus-Tehran, admits Humayun JarirWashington, DC, March 5 (Omaid): A delegation headed by Humayun Jarir was in Washington this week representing the Cyprus-Tehran process (CTP). Jarir is also a leading member of the radical Hezb-e Islami terrorist organization headed by Gulbudin Hekmatyar, who took an active part in the group’s slaughter of over 60,000 Afghans in Kabul between 1992 and 1996. During the Soviet-Afghan war, the Hezb was also responsible for the deaths of thousands among Afghan intelligentsia and prominent figures. Until the mid-1990s, the group played a pivotal role in the germination of international terrorist groups in the region. In a television interview, Jarir confessed that the CTP is funded by the Islamic Republic of Iran. He further admitted that Hekmatyar, who among Afghans is widely known as the “Butcher of Kabul,” will take part in the CTP. The delegation refused to meet with the regional Afghan community. Many observers believe the CTP was launched to undermine the emergency Loya Jirga initiative of former Afghan King Mohammad Zahir Shah. But even with massive resources at its disposal, the CTP has thus far failed to gain the support of more than a handful of Afghans. A growing number of experts and political analysts say that while the CTP is financed by Iran, Pakistan’s ISI is the architect and orchestrator of the affair. They have ascertained that Pakistan wants to undermine the Loya Jirga initiative, and in the likely case of the Taliban’s defeat, to reinject Hekmatyar into Afghanistan to further Islamabad’s plans in Afghanistan and the region. *From this week's English-language page
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