KABUL - Afghan Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah Tuesday warned that politics in the country based on ethnicity would have serious repercussions for the nation.
Speaking at a gathering marking the 15th assassination anniversary of former Jihadi commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, the CEO underlined Massoud's political vision and said Massoud had been opposed to making deals and had worked with people regardless of their ethnicity.
The gathering was held at the Loya Jirga tent in Kabul where a number of dignitaries denounced what they deemed was a monopolization of the nation's martyrs to a certain ethnicity group.
In the wake of the recent rift between President Ashraf Ghani and his CEO Abdullah Abdullah, participants at the gathering also focused on the role of the Afghan Mujahedeen in national politics. They said gains made by the present government were as a result of the historic endeavors of the Mujahedeen factions.
Abdullah said that the move towards ethnic-oriented politics would have serious implications for the country and the approach would add to the current conflicts.
"Today no one dares ask the generation of resistance what the identity of their father or grandfather was; we saw in recent years that these efforts have been a useless move," said Abdullah.
"Our martyrs are the symbol of national unity, they are not related to a certain race, ethnicity, area or political force. Our martyrs sacrificed their lives for certain objectives which belong to the entire nation," said Mohammad Sarwar Danish, Ghani's second Vice President.
Speakers also stressed the need for efforts to boost the nation's development process.
"What was hateful to Massoud was political tyranny. He used to be a critic of governments formed with a few votes," said Ahmad Zia Massoud, Ghani's special representative for reforms and good governance.
In addition to this, the foreign minister Salahuddin Rabbani also urged Afghans to take steps to push the political establishment to meet its commitments to the nation.
"Our people must ask us as government officials to conduct our duties correctly so that step by step the politics of slogans and the demagogic politics is wiped out in the country," Rabbani said.
Participants also raised doubts over what they called silence regarding peace and asked the Taliban to swiftly join the peace process.
"From this stage I call on the Taliban that if you (Taliban) are supporting Afghanistan's development and prosperity, then stop the war. As long as the war is prolonged, the country will be poor and you (Taliban) will become the slaves of slaves," said Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal, head of the Hizb-e-Islami party.
"As head of the Massoud Foundation, I want to say that there are efforts which aim to weaken martyrs week, over more than a decade we have seen that the Mujahedeen were pushed to the sidelines through various tactics," said Ahmad Wali Massoud, Chairman of the Massoud Foundation.
Ahmad Shah Massoud was known for his struggle against former occupation forces and then the Taliban movement. Twin suicide bombers posing as journalists assassinated Massoud fifteen years ago in Khawja Bahauddin district of northern Takhar province.(Tolonews)