Wali Karzai laid to rest

KANDAHAR CITY/KABUL): Ahmad Wali Karzai, the younger half-brother of President Hamid Karzai, was laid to rest on Wednesday.

President Karzai, members of his cabinet, parliamentarians, governors, provincial police chiefs, tribal elders, and ordinary people were among thousands who participated in the funeral ceremony for Wali Karzai.

The funeral was held in the Karz village of Dand district in the southern province of Kandahar. A day after he was killed by Sardar Mohammad, one of his guards, Wali Karzai was buried near to his father’s tomb.

Speaking on the occasion, a grief-stricken President Karzai once again called the Taliban brothers, urging them to renounce violence and return to a peaceful life.

Karzai said he had invited the Taliban to the negotiation table, despite their stated involvement in his brother’s killing.

Karzai said his brother was killed by the enemies of peace, who also killed Abdul Haq, Abdul Rahman Syedkheli, Gen. Daud Daud, Khan Mujahid and a number of tribal elders.

Karzai appointed Shah Wali Karzai, Ahmad Wali Karzai’s older brother, as Wali’s successor as chief of the Karzai tribe.

Wali Karzai was the son of Abdul Ahad Karzai and grandson of Khair Mohammad Khan. He was born in 1962 in Karz village of Dand district in Kandahar.

After graduating from Habibia high school in Kabul, he went to Kabul University. He had not yet completed his studies there when he had to emigrate to Quetta, Pakistan.

He spent 10 years in the US. He is survived by a wife, two sons, and three daughters.

Wolesi Jirga members have condemned the killing of Wali Karzai, as have and tribal elders, who insist on national unity to prevent such incidents in future.

“The three pillars of the state,” the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary, “should not consider minor issues and should work for the national interest,” the Wolesi Jirga said in a statement.

A lawmaker from Kandahar, Mohammad Naem Hamidzai, warned that if Afghans did not unite, such deaths and problems would continue to take place across the country. “The real enemies of the country should be identified,” he said.

“The government should change its policy against militants,” another lawmaker from western Herat province, Ghulam Farooq Majrooh, said.

Former speaker and parliamentarian, Mohammad Younus Qanuni, said there were groups who had been killing Afghans, especially elders. “Until the government can distinguish its friends and enemies, the situation will remain the same,” he said.

myn/ma/kg