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| Afghanistan |
| Pashtuns want Zahir Shah to return to throne |
| 2002-04-25 |
| Pashtun tribal elders from across southern Afghanistan gathered inside one of the country's holiest shrines on Wednesday to urge the return of deposed king Mohammad Zaher Shah to the throne. About 200 men with graying beards and swirling turbans sat cross-legged on the floor, fingering prayer beads and embracing old friends, as one speaker after another celebrated Zaher Shah's return to Afghanistan last week after 29 years in exile. "Baba was our king. Baba is our king, and Baba will remain our king in the future," said Ghulam Sakhi, an elder from Ghazni province. He used the Pashto word for "father" to refer to Zaher Shah, himself a Pashtun. That's probably an idea whose time has gone, which accounts for why the Pashtuns like it so much. With a king you can have vizirs and court intrigues, and when the old man's dead they can do interesting things with bowstrings or rope or axes to potential successors. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |