Mohammed Asif Safi of rising Communist movement, and specifically named Babrak Karmal as one of the members of this movement. Maiwandwal was killed by Parcham (Pashto: پرچم meaning "Banner" or "Flag") wing of the Communist movement (who controlled Interior Ministry) during his custody. General Asif Khan was deeply moved by the assassination of Maiwandwal, who was a prominent figure in Afghanistan’s history. In General Asif Khan’s personal diaries, he noted former Prime Minister Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal’s assassination as the beginning of Afghanistan's sad history. On April 19, 1978, PDPA leaders such as Nur Muhammad Taraki, Hafizullah Amin and Babrak Karmal, launched a bloody
Babrak Karmal too communist, and believed that its leadership should have hidden its Marxist orientation instead of promoting it. According to the official version of events, the majority of the PDPA Central Committee rejected Karmal's criticism. The vote was a close one, and it is reported that Taraki expanded the Central Committee to win the vote; this plan resulted in eight of the new members becoming politically unaligned with and one switching to the Parchamite side. Karmal and half the PDPA Central Committee left the PDPA to establish a Parchamite-led PDPA. Officially the split was caused by ideological differences, but the party