Panjsheri, Dastagir (1933-)

An eccentric Tajik from the district of Panjsher, Panjsheri obtained a B.A. from the College of Literature of Kabul University. He worked as a minor official in various capacities in the Ministry of Information and Culture. In 1965 he participated in the first congress of the PDPA and became a member of its central committee. After the PDPA split in 1967, he went first with Karmal and then with Taraki. He agreed with neither, though, and led a subgroup of his own, the Labor Group (Goroh-e-Kar). His belief in the notion of class struggle was total. From 1969 to 1972 he was in prison. Under the Khalqi government he served first as the minister of education and then as the minister of public works. In August 1979 he went for medical treatment to the Soviet Union, where he stayed for a long time. On his return he participated in the poisoned luncheon in the presidential palace on 27 December 1979, but he was the only one who was not poisoned. Also, he was one of the few ministers of the Khalqi government not imprisoned, and he served the Karmal regime in various capacities of the second rank.