Ramazan Bashardost
Encyclopedia
Ramazan Bashardost (born 1965) is Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

's former Planning Minister, a current member of the National Assembly of Afghanistan and was an independent candidate in the Afghan presidential election, 2009
Afghan presidential election, 2009
The 2009 presidential election in Afghanistan was characterized by lack of security, low voter turnout and widespread ballot stuffing, intimidation, and other electoral fraud....

.

Early years

Ramzan Bashardost, an ethnic Hazara, was born in Qarabagh District
Qarabagh District, Ghazni
Qarabagh district is located 56 km to the south west of Ghazni in eastern Afghanistan. The 1,800 km² area is one of the most populated at 109,000; some reports count more than 200,000...

, Ghazni Province
Ghazni Province
Ghazni is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Babur records in his Babur-Nama that Ghazni is also known as Zabulistan It is in the east of the country. Its capital is Ghazni City...

 of Afghanistan in a family of a respected government employees. He completed his primary and intermediate education in Qarabagh and later in Maimana, capital of Fariyab in northern Afghanistan. Months after the 1978 coup d'état, Bashardost left Afghanistan for Iran. He finished high school in Iran and then immigrated into Pakistan.

In 1983, he left Pakistan for France where he spent more than 20 years, earning degrees in law and political science. In 1989 he enrolled at Grenoble University where he did his Masters in Law. In 1990, he did his Masters
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 in Diplomacy
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...

 from Paris University. In 1992, he did his Masters in Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

. In 1995, Bashardost received his Ph.D in Law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 from France's Toulouse University. He wrote his thesis on the UN's role against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Recent years

After years in exile, Bashardost returned to Afghanistan in 2002 to work in the UN Department of Afghanistan's Foreign Affairs Ministry. In 2003, he was appointed as Director of European and Western Political Affairs Department in the ministry. In March 2004, he was appointed minister of planning but resigned that December in protest at the government's alleged inability to take action over 2,000 Afghan and international non governmental organisations (NGOs) outlawed by his ministry in Afghanistan.

In 2004 Bashardost published his book, Basic Political, Military and Diplomatic Laws of Afghanistan - From the era of Ahmad Shah Baba (1225 Hejri) to current years, in which he presented his analysis of the history of laws in Afghanistan. The book won an award at the Academy of Political Sciences of France, the first award won by an independent Afghan scientist and scholar.

Dr. Bashardost has no affiliations with any tribal, military or political party. He is in an independent scholar and political activist, well known for his support and defense of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

. He is well known as a prominent voice against the corrupt Afghan authorities of the past three decades, and a bold reformer and critic of the government.

In 2004/05 he briefly served as Afghanistan's Planning Minister. He was critical of the role played by NGOs and claimed that majority of them were a source of Afghanistan money drain. He particularly highlighted the hefty amounts paid to the NGO employees and ministers as compared to the average income of less than a dollar average national income. Controversy surrounded his stance, and he had to resign under government and foreign pressure. However, his outspoken criticism of the government and his firm stances against corruption and for public welfare won him widespread support.

In 2006 he was elected as Kabul's representative in the parliamentary elections. He won the third highest number of votes, which spanned across ethnic and linguistic groups.

Presidential Election 2009

Ramazan Bashardost registered for the presidential election on 7 May 2009.
His first VP is agriculture institute professor Mohammad Mosa Barekzai, and the second VP is Afifa Maroof, who works in the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission
Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission
The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission is an Afghan organisation dedicated to the preservation of human rights and the investigation of human rights abuses....

. A white dove, the symbol of peace, is Bashardost's emblem for the election.
Preliminary results placed him 3rd in a field of 38. In the provinces Ghazni
Ghazni
For the Province of Ghazni see Ghazni ProvinceGhazni is a city in central-east Afghanistan with a population of about 141,000 people...

 and Daykundi he beat the two main candidates Karzai
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...

 and Abdullah
Abdullah Abdullah
Abdullah Abdullah is an Afghan politician and a doctor of medicine. He was an adviser and friend to Ahmad Shah Massoud, legendary anti-Taliban leader and commander known as the "Lion of Panjshir". After the fall of the Taliban regime, Dr. Abdullah served as Afghanistan's Foreign Minister from 2001...

.

Bashardost is mostly known for his strong rejection of corruption. "In the Afghan administration now, money is the law (...). Afghanistan is the only country in the world where corruption is legal". Because of his sometimes offbeat stance and style, he has been nicked as a"popular Don Quixote and a maverick.

Person Of The Year

in 2010 RFE/RL's Radio has selected him as the Person Of The Year and the Afghanistan' Gandhi.

Author

Basic Political, Military and Diplomatic Laws of Afghanistan, written and published in 2004.

External links

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