A great friend of mine , more than a father , more than a teacher,guide,mentor,confidant died in Australia yesterday.Rasul Amin was not a man but an instiution and his death is a loss not only for his friends , family and relatives but for Afghanistan,Pakistan and the entire West and Central Asian region.
A renowned Afghan political thinker and at a later stage of his life ,politician , a word that he did not like ,Rasoul Amin breathed his last yesterday morning in Australia. He was 72.
Born on May 10 1939 at Watapur in Kunar Province ,Rasul Amin was son of a prominent Khan and his mother was from Chitral.He got his primary education from Kabul and joined the Islamia College Peshawar in 1956.He did his B.A. from Islamia College, Peshawar, was elected as a General-Secretary of the students union, named Khyber Union,a unique , unprecedented honour for an Afghan student and got the colour of best debater in 1963. He completed his MA in political science from Peshawar University in 1966 and then pursued an illustrious career in teaching at the Kabul University where he rose to the post of chairman of department of philosophy and social sciences in May 1976.His illustrious academic career was interrupted in 1979 when he sought refuge in Pakistan.Many of his close relatives were Khalqi leftists and he also is said to have leftist sympathies but all this changed when he was placed under arrest by Hafeezullah Amin regime in May 1979 for a short time.He crossed into Pakistan from a remote mountain pass on foot on 4th January 1980 alongwith his family members , he told me in June 2004.
In Peshawar his political affiliation was Professor Gillanis National Islamic Front of Afghanistan.He initially worked with renowned Afghan intellectual Professor Majrooh in the Afghanistan Information Centre.
He founded WUFA , writers union of free Afghanistan on 21 March 1985.The idea was intellectual warfare against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Konard Adenauer Foundation (Germany), USIS, Asia Foundation (USA) Royal Ministry for foreign Affairs, Denmark financed all the WUFA and ASC activities. Director of Afghanistan Study Centre. In order to meet the requirements of new circumstances the Executive Body of Former Writers Union of Free Afghanistan (WUFA) drastically changed the wartime manifesto of the WUFA and replaced it by Afghanistan Study Centre (ASC) with a new Charter. Minister of Education in Interim Administration of Afghanistan, representing the Rome process initiated by H.M the Former King of Afghanistan.
His blunt views were not liked by many in the Afghan Government and his President Karzai was no exception to this.In 2002 he resigned his post of minister of education and decided to devote himself fully to the intellectual regeneration of Afghanistan and to Afghan Pak friendship.
Every evening and many times after lunch we met without a day of absence from 29 June 2004 till 15th April 2008 unless he was out of Kabul or in Australia.I saw in him a combination of Jamaluddin Afghani ,Francis Bacon and Mirza Ghalib .As the evening transformed into darkness Rasul Amin became somber and somewhat gloomy and the discussion always centred around the epic tragedy of Afghanistan.One day he told me he wanted to be buried next to Jamaluddin Afghanis grave in Kabul University.We differed over the Soviet and American invasions of Afghanistan.I thought that the American sabotage of Afghanistan sponsored by tinpot Zia and later Pakistani regimes was the real cause of the tragedy of Afghanistan and he differed.His first cousin Professor Dr Qasim Jamdar was a diehard Khalqi and so was his brother ,an accomplished Mig 21 pilot of the DRA.Finally when all was concluded with last drops of Stlichnaya or Grants drowned in we departed as immortal and eternal friends.
I state with immense pride that he selected me as editor of Journal Of Afghanistan Studies in June 2004.
Rasul Amin saw Afghanistan and Pakistan as conjoined twins and realised that friendship was the only way out of the Afghan Pak quagmire.His views were not liked by many at the highest position .However it appears that after many years now Afghan politicians realise that Afghan Pakistan friendship is the only way out of the present crisis.Let this be a vindication of his views and all he stood for.
Rasul Amins mortal soul has gone but his ideas are immortal and a source of inspiration for all who knew him or read him.May Allah bless his soul.
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Posted By Agha H Amin to Understanding Each Other, Diversity and Dissent at 11/01/2009 08:51:00 PM
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Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." --
Albert Einstein !!!
