Juma Khan Hamdard

Juma Khan Hamdard is the current the governor of Paktia, he formerly served as governor of Baghlan, later he was transferred to Jowzjan.

In both of the latter places, immense pressure was put on him to quit,thousands of people demonstrated against him in Baghlan. After weeks of protests against Hamdard, President Karzai, a supporter of Hamdard, decided to transfer him to Jowzjan where he faced a similar fate.

In Mid 2007, 13 civilians were killed, with more than 30 reportedly injured, in the northern ethnically Uzbek town of Shibirghan at the hands of forces under the command of Juma Khan Hamdard, the governor of Jowzjan province on the Amu Darya River bordering Uzbekistan. [Asia Times, May 30, 2007]

Juma Khan Hamdard is an important personality of northern Afghanistan. He has played a pivotal role in safeguarding the interests of the Pashtuns. He hailed from Balkh and enjoy a mass based support among the Pashtun settlers. He is a military commander and politician par excellence. Since the fall of the communist regime in 1992, he has treaded a very cautious approach in protecting the interests of Pashtuns in Northern Afghanistan in the wake of rising anti-Pashtun sentiments. In 1992, he joined hands with general Abdul Rashid Dostum, necessitated by political expediency, but he also played an important role in Taliban successes in northern Afghanistan. However, in the wake of the Taliban's demise, his services were again hired by general Dostum in order to ward off fears among Pashtun settlers who were subjected to a reign of terror unprecedented in modern Afghani history.

References

Bad blood spreads to Afghanistan's north Asia Times, May 30, 2007. [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IE30Df02.html]