A Taliban spokesman said: “Only close family members know about this place.
Kabul:
The Taliban on Sunday revealed the final resting place of the movement’s founder, Mullah Omar, whose death and burial they have kept secret for years.
Rumors surrounding Omar’s health and whereabouts grew after the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001 by a US-led invasion, and they only admitted in April 2015 that he had been killed. died two years earlier.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP on Sunday that senior leaders of the movement had attended a ceremony at his grave site earlier in the day near Omarzo, in the Suri district of Zabul province.
The Taliban returned to power last August, directing government forces as the US-led army backs the regime that has ended a 20-year occupation.
“Since there were a lot of enemies around and the country was occupied, to avoid damage to the tomb, it was kept secret,” Mujahid said.
“Only close family members know this place,” he added.
Pictures released by officials show Taliban leaders gathered around a simple white brick tomb, covered with what appears to be gravel and enclosed in a non-ferrous metal cage green.
“Now that the decision has been made … there is no problem for the people visiting the mausoleum,” said Mujahid.
Omar, who was about 55 years old when he died, founded the Taliban in 1993 as an antidote to the interphase civil war that erupted after the decades-long Soviet occupation.
Under his leadership, the Taliban introduced an extremely austere version of Islamic rule, banning women from public life and introducing harsh public punishments – including executions and beatings. dam.
– Massoud’s tomb was reported vandalized –
Omar’s ceremony comes a day after provincial Taliban officials denied reports that the mausoleum of resistance hero Ahmad Shah Massoud in the Panjshir Valley had been vandalized, an act that Mujahid said would be destroyed. punishment” if true.
Massoud has a mixed heritage in the country, where he was praised by ordinary Afghans for leading the resistance against the Soviet occupation, but disgusted by the Taliban, who also fought until his death. Al-Qaeda assassinated in 2001.
His mausoleum is housed in an imposing granite and marble mausoleum overlooking the picturesque Panjshir Valley, and has been guarded by Taliban fighters since they took over the country last August.
Local residents said a group of newly arrived militants had smashed the tombstone, and the video of the ruined tomb – which could not be verified – was posted by local media and widely circulated on social channels.
“The incident happened when new forces entered Panjshir. New forces from Helmand and Kandahar destroyed the tombstone of the national hero,” one resident told AFP.
Nasrullah Malakzada, head of the information and culture department of Panjshir province, denied the tomb had been damaged and released a video purporting to show it intact.
However, the clip does not show the entire structure – especially the damaged part in the original video.
Malakzada refused requests from journalists to visit or photograph the mausoleum for him.
Mujahid told reporters that no one has the right to insult the dead.
“We have punished people for such behavior in the past,” he said, adding that “this will also be investigated and necessary action will be taken”.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
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