Sibghatullah
Al-Mojaddedi was born in 1926. He
belongs to the Mojaddedis, known as descendants of the Mujaddid Ahmad
Sirhindi. He was born in 1925 in Herat province in western 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.
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
entered 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.
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. 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.
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The End. Sep 24 2006