Laek, Suleiman

Father - Maulawi Abdul Gani, a Pashtun- Gilzai from the Suleimanhel tribe, was a representative in Afghanistan of the Mujaddi family - leaders of the Sufi order of Naqshbandiyya . Mother came from the Gilzai tribe haroti (haruti). The influential Mujahideen leader, Sebgatulla Mujadddi, was married to Laek’s older sister, Merchnegor. However, according to the data of the former commander of the 40th Army, General Boris Gromov , for his repeated revelations against Sebgatulla

Laik was declared an enemy of the clan. Such is the logic of any revolution, especially if it takes place somewhere in the East - the brother is forced to fight against his brother, the father against his son.

He graduated from the Khabibiya Lyceum in Kabul ( 1947 ), a madrasah in the city of Pagman ( 1952 ; was twice excluded for “anti-religious statements”). At the age of 12, he became acquainted with the works of Russian and French classics, including the poetry of A.S. Pushkin . In 1952-1954 he studied at the Sharia faculty of Kabul University, was expelled for participating in student performances. Then he studied at the literary faculty of this university, which he graduated in 1957 .

He was widely known as a poet, writing in the languages ​​of Pashto and Dari . In 1959 he was awarded the State Prize for the poem "Childhood Left". He is the author of poetry collections “Songs of Chungar” ( 1962 ), “Tent of the Nomad” ( 1976 ), “Memories and Fields” ( 1978 ), “Sail” ( 1981 ), “Dawn over the Indus” ( 1983 ), “The Bright Direction of Roads” ( another translation is “The Bright Way”) ( 1984 ). In his work, lyrical and pronounced social motives are combined.

From 1958 to 1968 he held various posts in the media and government: an employee of the Kabul newspaper Khivad, deputy editor of Radio Afghanistan, deputy editor of the journal Zhvandun (Life), deputy editor of the newspaper Radio, an employee of the Ministry of Culture . Since 1965 - Member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan , delegate to its founding congress; in 1966 he became a candidate member of the Central Committee of the party, was a member of the Parcham faction. Since 1968 - publisher and editor-in-chief of the newspaper Parcham. In July 1977, at a unifying party conference with the participation of the Halk and Parcham factions, he was elected a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the PDPA.

After the PDPA came to power in 1978, as a result of the Saur (April) Revolution, he became a member of the Revolutionary Council and Minister of Radio and Television. After the start of repressions against members of the Faction, Parcham was removed from the Politburo and removed from the post of Minister; wrote a penitential article, but in March 1979 was arrested and imprisoned in Puli Charchi. Subsequently, he recalled this stage of his life: All friends turned away from me. Only my verses remained with me - this is a shining necklace of pearls of the human soul, longing for life in the clear sea of ​​truth. Only they gave me strength and comfort in the dungeons of hell . Being in custody, he continued to write poetry - 42 poems from the “prison cycle” made up the cycle “Flowers of Hell”.

After the Soviet troops entered Afghanistan, he was released from prison (in late December 1979). Since January 1980 - a candidate member of the Central Committee of the PDPA and a member of the Revolutionary Council. Since April 12, 1980 - President of the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan (in 1986 he was awarded the title of academician in the field of language and literature). At the same time he was authorized by the Central Committee of the PDPA and the Revolutionary Council of the DRA in the Vostok zone (the city of Jalalabad ).

From June 1981 - Minister for Ethnic Affairs and Tribes (held this post until February 1989 ), in the same year he was included in the Central Committee of the PDPA. In 1989-1990 - Minister for Border Affairs. In 1986-1990 - member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the PDPA, in 1989-1990 - Secretary of the Central Committee of the PDPA. In 1990-1992, he was a member of the executive bureau of the Central Council of the Party of the Fatherland (former PDPA) and one of its deputy chairmen. Along with political activity and poetry, he studied ethnography of Pashtun tribes.

According to the memoirs of a specialist in the history and politics of Afghanistan M.F. Slinkin , a former Soviet adviser in this country in the 1980s, Laik

as a delicate politician and a deep connoisseur of the ethno-confessional situation in the country and as a recognized poet, he gained enormous authority not only among the tribes and nationalities of Afghanistan, but also among all layers of the intelligentsia and ordinary Afghans. At the same time, one cannot but admit that in the leadership of the party and the state the attitude towards him was far from unambiguous: some idolized him and quite justifiably connected with his name the most real possibilities for resolving the protracted Afghan crisis, while others, on the contrary, jealously perceived his popularity, intrigued around him and sought at all costs to discredit him in the eyes of the Afghan public and Moscow. Influential KGB representatives in Kabul, as well as senior officials of the Soviet embassy who did not like his independence, direct judgments and disagreement with some aspects of the country's top leadership’s policy, and therefore with the attitudes coming from the Kremlin , also applied their hand to the compromise of S. Layek. .

After the collapse of the PDPA regime in 1992 , he left the country with his family and received political asylum in Germany .

After the overthrow of the Taliban and the occupation of Afghanistan, the United States and NATO returned to the country. It is considered one of the most respected and respected Pashtun poets. Laik's name is mentioned in the song of M. Muromov (Afghanistan):

Afghanistan lives in my soul

I hear sleepless nights

Laik’s poems in anger and sorrow

And shots at the far frontier.

• Afghanistan. A brief biographical guide. M., 2004.

• B. V. Gromov "Limited contingent"
• Slinkin M.F. People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan in power. Taraki-Amin time 1978-1979 (inaccessible link)