KOZHIKODE: The news of Taliban uprising in Afghanistan is causing reverberations in far-off Farook College here. It reminds the college students and faculty of the shock and agony they had six years ago-when college alumnus and Afghan national Shaheed Mansoor Ahamad Rahmanzai was abducted and killed by Taliban on April 10, 2015.
The 25-year-old was a BBA student in the college during 2010-13. Mansoor was working with the Afghan government and a volunteer of ‘Save the Children’, an NGO striving for girls’ education, while being shot dead along with four others at the NGO. Besides the painful memory of Mansoor, there are 13 Afghan students currently pursuing education in the college who eagerly await the news from home.
“Mansoor was a student with purpose. Hailing from an influential family in Kabul, Mansoor didn’t forget he came to India to gain education,” recalls Abdul Azees, Assistant Professor in Commerce department. Azees has vivid memory of Mansoor and another Afghan student Khalid joining the college tour.
“Usually students from Afghanistan do not join the tour as they find it difficult to get Afghan food,” added Azees. “Mansoor was one we can never forget. He always dreamt of a better Afghanistan.
He worked for women’s education and social uplift. A new Afghanistan free from the clutches of darkness was what he aspired for,” tells Shamna Hameed Asif, Mansoor’s classmate. According to sources, Mansoor was in the watch list of Taliban as he severely criticised their barbaric act, especially the attitude towards girls and education.
‘I WANT TO READ MY FATHER’S WORK IN ENGLISH’
There are 13 students from Afghanistan currently pursuing education at Farook College, many under the scholarship programme of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
“The situation is critical now. Already 17 provinces are under Taliban. We are flooded with many reports and don’t know which is true,” Kalimullah Momand, a BBA student told TNIE. Momand’s biggest dream is to see his writer father Hafizullah Turab’s works getting translated to English.
“He had 22 published books to his credit, all in Pashto language. Will I have the luck to read his writings in English,” he asks. Adnan Sadhaat, another Afghan student pursuing BBA, said that their families back home are very much worried now.
“It was not the same situation during Ramadan. We all had a good time in Ramadan. Taliban surge happened suddenly,” he said in a choked voice.