Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal ( fa, محمد هاشم میوندوال; 12 March 1921 – 1 October 1973) was an Afghan politician during the reign of
Zahir Shah
Mohammed Zahir Shah (Pashto/Dari: , 15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last king of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973. Serving for 40 years, Zahir was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanistan s ...
.
Biography
After graduating from high school, Mohammad Hashim became a journalist, editing several newspapers. During the 1950s, he was appointed as the
Kingdom of Afghanistan
The Kingdom of Afghanistan ( ps, , Dǝ Afġānistān wākmanān; prs, پادشاهی افغانستان, Pādešāhī-ye Afġānistān) was a constitutional monarchy in Central Asia established in 1926 as a successor state to the Emirate of Af ...
's ambassador to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
,
the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
alternately from 1955 to 1963.
In October 1965, following the election of the new legislature, an impasse over its approval of the new cabinet brought rioting and an intervention by the army, leading to the death of at least three student demonstrators. The proposed cabinet was withdrawn, and the constitution of a new one under the leadership of Muhammad Hashim Maiwandwal, a senior diplomat, was approved with little opposition. Nominated by the King, he quickly established friendly relations with the students, while making it clear that he was in charge and there were going to be limits to student political activity.
He served as
Prime Minister of Afghanistan
The prime minister of Afghanistan ( ps, د افغانستان لومړی وزیر; prs, رئیسالوزرای افغانستان) is the head of government of Afghanistan. The position was created in 1927 as an official appointed by the Kin ...
from November 2, 1965 until October 11, 1967. He resigned due to ill health. Maiwandwal had no children, and he left all his property his nephew, who had moved to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, but it was taken by the state.
In 1966 he founded the
Jam’iat Demokrate-ye Mottaraqi (Progressive Democratic Party), a leftist monarchist party. It advocated evolutionary socialism and parliamentary democracy. Maiwandwal, who was elected in 1965, lost his seat when the government selectively influenced the elections.
Arrest and death
The rise of
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
Mohammad Daoud Khan
Mohammed Daoud Khan ( ps, ), also romanized as Daud Khan or Dawood Khan (18 July 1909 – 28 April 1978), was an Afghan politician and general who served as prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and, as leader of the 1973 Afghan coup d ...
to power after the
1973 coup was galling to other would-be successors, such as
Sardar Abdul Wali, who was quickly put behind bars. A coup attempt, which may have been planned before Daoud took power, was subdued shortly after his coup. Whether Maiwandwal was in on the plot from the start is open to question, but his pro-Western reputation may explain why he was chosen for its leadership. This led to the arrest of Maiwandwal and twenty others on September 20, 1973, including the newly promoted chief of air staff, two serving lieutenant generals, five colonels and one member of the now defunct
Wolesi Jirga
The House of Representatives of the People, or Da Afghanistan Wolesi Jirga ( ps, دَ افغانستان ولسي جرګه), was the lower house of the bicameral National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, alongside the upper Hous ...
.
Maiwandal was known to be anti-communist and the communists regarded him as an obstacle to their ideology. It is said that news of Maiwandwal's arrest for conspiracy in the aborted coup was surprising to many, as he was liked by President Daoud, and Maiwandwal considered Mohammad Naim, President Daoud's brother, as a mentor when serving in the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The parcham controlled the Interior Ministry, and they feared the likely scenario of Daoud pardoning Maiwandwal and actually reinstating him in the government. On October 1, 1973, he was said to have committed
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
while awaiting trial. He died in prison at a time when
Parchamites controlled the Ministry of Interior under circumstances corroborating the widespread belief that he had been tortured to death. That is the main reason the international community in Kabul believes that he was killed when third degree methods were used to obtain a confession. He actually died from
internal haemorrhage
Internal bleeding (also called internal hemorrhage) is a loss of blood from a blood vessel that collects inside the body. Internal bleeding is usually not visible from the outside. It is a serious medical emergency but the extent of severity depen ...
s resulting from being kicked in the abdomen by the chief Parchamite in charge of his interrogation, while lying on the floor as a result of previous blows. His body was secretly buried by the police department in the Shuhada-e Saliheen graveyard in southern Kabul, which was discovered in 2004 by Daoud Malikyar.
It has been suggested that Maiwandwal's death at the hands of the Parchamites led to President Daoud Khan purging Parchamites from his cabinet in the following years.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maiwandwal
Prime Ministers of Afghanistan
Afghan diplomats
Afghan socialists
Afghan democracy activists
1921 births
1973 deaths
Afghan people who died in prison custody
Prisoners who died in Afghan detention
Progressive Democratic Party of Afghanistan politicians
Pashtun people
Ambassadors of Afghanistan to the United States
Ambassadors of Afghanistan to Pakistan