Ghulam Dastagir Panjsheri (1933 – 26 December 2022) was an Afghan communist politician and public servant. Panjsheri was usually identified as a

Khalq Khalq (Dari/, ) was a faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). Its historical ''de facto'' leaders were Nur Muhammad Taraki (1967–1979), Hafizullah Amin (1979) It was also the name of the leftist newspaper produced by ...

by fellow Afghan politicians, while outside observers said he was creating his own PDPA group under the name Gruhi Kar.

Early career

Panjsheri studied at Kabul Teachers College and was the faculty of letters at the Kabul University. After working in a journal under the name, ''Anis'' and teaching literature at the Kabul Teachers College he started working for the Ministry of Information and Culture. In 1965, he became a member of the Central Committee of the PDPA at their first congress meeting on January 1, 1965. When Babrak Karmal left the PDPA because of the power struggle between the

and the

Parcham Parcham (Pashto/ Dari: پرچم, ) was the more moderate socialist faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) led by Afghan communist politician Babrak Karmal. It was later turned into the Watan (Homeland) Party with a mor ...

s, Panjsheri left the party with Karmal and the rest of his supporters, he eventually returned to his original position in the PDPA and became a member of the Khalqi faction again. Later on, he tried to establish his own splinter communist party, which turned out to be unsuccessful. Between 1969 and 1972 he was imprisoned for political activities. It is unknown what position he held or what he did under the rule of Mohammad Daoud Khan's Daoud's Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978).

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

After the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) sized power after the

Saur Revolution The Saur Revolution (; ), also known as the April Revolution or the April Coup, was a violent coup d'état and uprising staged on 27–28 April 1978 (, ) by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which overthrew President of Afghan ...

(1978), he was Minister of Education and later Minister of Public Works under Nur Mohammad Taraki. He held the job as Minister of Public Works until Hafizullah Amin rose to power in 1979 after his assassination of Taraki. Under the rule of Babrak Karmal he was promoted to the Central Committee's

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

. While seen by many as a Khalqi, he was given the position of Chairman of the Party Control Commission. According to rumours at that time Panjsheri was establishing his own political group within the PDPA with help from the

Soviet government The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the executive and administrative organ of the highest body of state authority, the All-Union Supreme Soviet. It was formed on 30 December 1922 and abolished on 26 December 199 ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. The name of his political group was Kar. He died on 26 December 2022, at the age of 89.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Panjsheri, Ghulam Dastagir 1933 births 2022 deaths People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan politicians Education ministers of Afghanistan Public works ministers of Afghanistan Politicians of Panjshir Province