The Ghani government instituted Shaheed Week to diminish the importance of Massoud's martyrdom.
By Rustam Rushangar, analyst, especially for Sangar
I have written many times that naming the third week of Sunbula/Shahrivar as Shaheed (Martyrs) Week has diminished the importance of the 18th of Sumbula, the day of Ahmad Shah Massoud's martyrdom. As I recall, this name was mainly a wish of Ashraf Ghani's cultural group.
As we have seen, in the last days of Ghani's rule, when Shaheed Week was celebrated, Massoud's name was rarely mentioned. Under the pretext that it was Shaheed Week and that all shaheeds should be honored, a list of names and photographs of shaheeds of all nationalities and origins, of all levels and statuses was prepared, while Massoud's name and photograph were missing. Of course, this concerned official government circles.
At one time, there was a violent fight in the Interior Ministry between the head of the press center, a Pashtun fascist and fanatic from Ghani's team (Najib Nangyal), and the press center workers, supporters of Massoud. Nangyal did not print a single photo of Massoud to be placed next to photos of other martyrs during Martyrs' Week. When the Tajik employees asked him the reason, he replied that it was Shaheed week, not Massoud week. This was the case in most of the government offices of the Ghani government.
Namely, the ideologs of the Ghani government, who were also more Pashtunists, were very happy that the name of Massoud would be lost among the martyrs, or at least that Massoud would be placed next to hundreds of others and they would say that Massoud was one of hundreds and thousands of martyrs and no higher or better than them. Even at this level, their sick souls felt satisfaction and relief.
I do not know what role the resistance representatives played in this name. But whatever it was, it showed their lenient approach to his values. As in many other cases, they were negligent in preserving them. Some say that the name was adopted at the suggestion of the Shaheed Massoud Foundation, but I do not remember.
Afghanistan has many martyrs. It is not out of place to call every week and every day on Martyr's Day. But why should Ahmad Shah Massoud's martyrdom day as a separate day be turned into Shaheed Week? This naming allowed the detractors and opponents of Massoud, who did not want a single day to be exclusive to Massoud, to downplay the importance of 18 Sunbula.
No doubt, we have many respected martyrs whose memories and memories are dear to us. But Massoud was Massoud, and you should cry only for him and not share his mourning with others.
Therefore, I don't accept Shaheed Week, and 18th Sunbula is a special day of our grief and mourning, I do not consider any Shaheed equal to Masoud, to put his image and name next to Masoud and say that they were like Masoud or Masoud was like them.
