KABUL - President Hamid Karzai, praising assassinated peace envoy Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani's contribution to the cause, on Wednesday urged the nation to work for lasting stability in the country.
"We should all strive for peace to continue the mission of Rabbani," the president told a ceremony marking the first death anniversary of the High Peace Council chief, who was killed in a suicide attack on his residence in Kabul on Sept. 20, 2011.

Karzai paid tribute to the ex-president for his sincere reconciliation efforts, saying that all Afghans should work to promote his cause. He hailed the Jamiat-i-Islami Afghanistan leader as a tolerant and broad-minded man, who had a good grasp of the situation in the region.

The presidential call came a day after a dozen people, including eight foreign employees of an air cargo company, were killed and 11 Afghans injured in a suicide attack near the Kabul International Airport.

Second Vice-President Mohammad Karim Khalili called Rabbani a renowned jihadi leader who pursued his peace mission in a way that no one could exploit it. Peace would continue to elude Afghanistan in the absence of justice, a prerequisite for stability, he said.

He asked the militants to shake off the yoke of outsiders' slavery by joining the Afghan government-led reconciliation initiative. The VP supported a peace program that protected achievements of the past decade.
Khalili said all security responsibilities should be handed over to Afghan forces by the end of 2014, despite the challenges facing the country. The resilient Afghans could deal with all kinds of challenges if they shunned political and ethnic differences.

Another jihadi leader, Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf, believed that peace could not be restored with requests to militants. He proposed relentless national reconciliation efforts based on a strong governmental stance.
"Suicides attacks on Muslims amount to attacks on Islam," he remarked. "Those who say they are fighting against foreigners are liars, who will incur Allah's wrath."

He said the Muslim world was duty-bound to arrange peace parleys between two Muslim groups -- a reference to the Afghan government and the Taliban insurgents. Muslims should force both sides to embrace peace and sink their differences, he continued.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Minister of Information Din Mohammad Mubarez Rashidi announced a Cabinet decision on naming the Kabul Education University after Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani. (Pajhwok)