Abdul Latif Pedram

Abdul Latīf Pedrām عبداللطيف پدرام
Personal details
Born	1963 Badakhshan Province
Nationality	Afghan
Residence(s)	Kabul, Afghanistan
Website	National Congress Party of Afghanistan

Abdul Latīf Pedrām (Persian: عبداللطيف پدرام; born in 1963), Ph.D., is a politician and a candidate for presidency in Afghanistan. He emerged as a controversial figure in the press and political circles for campaigning for women's personal rights, a taboo subject in Afghanistan's culture. Currently, he is the leader of the National Congress Party of Afghanistan.

Biography

Born in Badakhshan in 1963 to a Persian-speaking Tājīk family, Latīf Pedrām is a writer, poet, journalist, and professor of Persian literature. He was director of the library of the Hakīm Nāṣer Ḫoṣrow Balḫī Cultural Center. First a supporter of the communist government, he soon began to openly criticize and oppose the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He stayed in Afghanistan during most of the war years, moving around the country to be able to pursue his activities. Latīf Pedrām was finally forced into exile by the advance of the Taliban and their policies of ethnic and linguistic segregation. Before returning to Afghanistan after the demise of the Taliban, he lived for a while in France where he attempted to promote Afghanistan's Persian poetry and literature.

Political views

File:Pedram.jpg

An article in the Iranian newspaper Nimrooz (2000): Dr. Latif Pedram proposes changing the name of Afghanistan to Khorasan or Aryana, the historical names of the region prior to Pashtun domination.

Latīf Pedrām is a strong supporter of federalism and secularism in Afghanistan. He denounces corruption and strongly opposes Islamic fundamentalism. He advocates an independent, but decentralized Afghanistan, and believes that the country should be divided into autonomous regions under the control of regional capitals.

Although his party is multi-ethnic and is, so far, the only opposition party that is not linked to an armed group, he is regarded by some as a Tajik nationalist politician with a "strong anti-Pashtun tone". The Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and comprise ca. 40% of the total population. Perhaps his most controversial statement is the demand for a name-change in Afghanistan. In many publications and articles, he proposed the change of the name "Afghanistan" to "Khorasan", the medieval name of the region, in order to settle some inter-ethnic feuds. His statement is based on the fact that the current name of the country is synonymous with "Land of Pashtuns".

Presidential elections 2004

Main article: Afghan presidential election, 2004

Latīf Pedrām received the 5th most votes during the 2004 elections, with approximately 1.4% of the total ballots counted, and approximately 17% of the ballots in his home province Badakhshan - being the strongest of the small candidates. Following the outcome, he criticized the government and the results, saying that "large-scale fraud had occurred," which was "completely shameful." Prior to the votes, Latīf Pedrām had argued that the presidential election should be delayed because of insecurity and to arrange for the whole Afghan diaspora to vote.

2008 controversy

In February 2008, an alleged audio recording of Latīf Pedrām was aired by various TV channels in Afghanistan, claiming that Latīf Pedrām had "disrespected" and "insulted" former king of Afghanistan, Amanullah Khan, who is regarded as a "national hero" by many in the country. This lead to hot editorial crossfires among the press and in the Parliament and Cabinet, echoing with ethnic conflicts when ethnic blocks were identified supporting and criticizing Latīf Pedrām.

While expressing its concern regarding the regression of democracy in Afghanistan one year before the 2009 presidential elections, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has called for the unconditional release of Latīf Pedrām.

Awards

Latīf Pedrām has received many international awards, including:

• The Prix Hellman-Helmet (Hellman-Helmet Prize) by Human Rights Watch in July 1999
• A special grant from Reporters sans Frontières in December 1998

He is also an honorary member of:

• The International Parliament of Writers and a guest of the city of Suresnes in France
• The "Association of the Persian speakers of the World" ("Peyvand") and member of the board of editors of Peyvand journal

Quotes

It is obvious for everyone that Karzai could not get 15 percent of the votes if the election had been fair [...] Now if Karzai or anybody else becomes the president of the country as a result of this election, he will be a false president. - Comment on the presidential elections in October 2004

The previous Taliban foreign affairs minister, Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel [...] and many other [Taliban] are living openly in Kabul. Some of these leaders and other [in]famous murderers during the Taliban regime have seats in the National Assembly. Under these conditions, Afghans have the right also to wonder what the foreign forces are doing in their country.

As a non-religious and multiethnic movement, our project is based on a national economic cohesion so that all Afghan ethnic groups participate in the national decision-making. But we have to recognize the realities: the province of Herat and the province of Paktia, live a century apart from each other; if the fundamentalists who are powerful in certain provinces of the south oppose the opening of schools in the territory they control, why allow them to impose their rule in other more advanced provinces!? - Comment on Afghan president Hamid Karzai's remarks to "invite moderate Taliban into Afghanistan's new government".

External links

• Democracy in Danger: Latif Pedram placed under under house arrest
• PBS Frontline: World: Afghanistan Without Warlords, a Secular Politician
• LibertyRadio.org Biography
• An interview with l'Humanité (in English, January 1, 2007)
• Institute for War and Peace Reporting: Abdul Latif Pedram: Intellectual Adds Controversy to Campaign
• National Congress Party of Afghanistan Website