Karzai Renames a University after a Warlord

Students at the Kabul Education University-where I used to attend-are on a protest at governmental announcement renaming the university after a slain former warlord Burhanuddin Rabbani.

B. Rabbani was the former warlord who was assassinated last year. On his first assassination anniversary on Sept 20 2012, President Hamid Karzai has issued a decree renaming the Kabul Education University as University of Burhanuddin Rabbani.

It hasn’t been a week yet since the university is renamed, but the issue has already divided up the students into two groups having aggressive discriminatory arguments every day. Not only the students, but also some professors have started to have conflicts and arguments over the issue and a few have even agreed to submit their resignations.

The students of this university have eventually protested demanding the president to take the decree back and let the university have its original name instead a scary warrior’s portrait and name on the gate of an educational environment. 

The banner reads "We'll continue our classes under the name Education University 

The students said they respected Rabbani as whoever he was, but their university should not be turned into a political discrimination platform. One of the students said “We have suffered long enough when the country was at the hands of the warlords. We want education in peace and no Jihadi discussions in our educational environment”.                                                                                                                                    Holding banners the students warned the government that they will continue to protest until the decree is taken back.

On social networking sites like Facebook, some Afghans have amusingly shown the story in cartoons showing what will eventually happen if Kabul Education University permanently names B. Rabbani’s University.

If the university permanently renames, ...

I wish Karzai would happen to come across this post and answer my question.

Mr. President, what does a warlord’s scary name have to do in an educational environment? There might be sons whose fathers were killed by the person whose picture you have put on their university gate ...