A brief history of plight of Hazaras of Afghanistan

Note: This article was origionally published on India Today.

As envisioned, the Taliban has totally neglected Hazaras (not unlike women) in its interim government. Its 33-member cabinet, which Taliban calls ‘inclusive’, due to inclusion of three Taliban members of Tajik and Uzbek ethnicities, all are Pashtuns. But not a single Hazara, not even a token Sunni Hazara is taken in.

Who are the Hazaras?

Hazaras are Dari-speaking people, thought to be of Turk-Mongol race, the country’s third largest ethnic group which constitute about 20% of the Afghan population. They themselves, however, claim something between 25-30%. There has never been any ethnicity-based census in Afghanistan. So, it is all an estimate. Majority of them are Twelver Shia, rest are Sunni and Ismaili.

A band of Hazara girls singing folk music during a festival in Bamiyan, 2017. Credit: Abdullah Anwary.

Hazaras prior to creation of contemporary Afghanistan

They have been dwelling in the central highlands of Afghanistan called Hazarajat (the land of Hazaras) for more than 2,000 years according to some historians. Bamiyan, located along the historical Silk Road, has been considered their de facto capital throughout the history, which is well-known for its giant statues of the Buddha, Salsal, the male one, 55 meters high and Shahmama, the female one, 38 meters high. The faces of the statues were dismantled long ago due to their characteristic looks, but the remaining parts were blown up and demolished by Taliban in 2001.

Bamiyan. Pic: Hadi Zaher

Invasion of Hazarajat by Amir Abdul Rahman.

Hazarajat was a semi-independent territory until late 19^th century.  After taking the rein the then Emir of Afghanistan Abdul Rahman Khan ordered invasion of Hazarajat in late 1880s. His army initially faced very tough resistance by Hazaras and faced multiple defeats. He then asked Sunni clerics to issue a religious decree declaring them infidel, rebellious and worthy to be killed and waged jihad against them. Their entire population was subjected to persecution after subjugation and incorporation of their lands. Historians, including the Emir’s official historian Faiz Muhammad Katib and later on historian Gholam Mohammad Ghobar, has described the detail of the brutal genocide of Hazaras at the hands of Emir’s army. It is estimated that circa 62% of their population was wiped out, rest enslaved and subjugated to systematic discriminations and subjugations afterwards by successive Afghan kingdoms.

Although Amir Abdul Rahman’s grandson, Amanullah Khan, announced abolition of slavery and granted general amnesty but the situation returned to its usual when Amanullah Khan himself faced rioting for being too modern and his kingdom was eventually terminated. Decades later, In 1933, a Hazara servant of Charkhi family, Abdul Khaliq, assassinated king Nadir Shah during a ceremony at Kabul university. His son, Zahir Shah, retaliated with brutality against them and the life did not become easier for the community. The mistrust and systematic discriminations continued throughout his kingdom despite a relative long period of overall instability.  

The civil war and Russian invasion of Afghanistan

With the abolition of monarchy and the communist revolution in 1978 the Hazaras hoped the life would become easier but it soon proved to be a wishful thinking. Although a Hazara member of the communist regime, Sultan Ali Kisthmand, became the first ever Hazara serving as a prime minister in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Hazaras, not unlike others, fought against the Russians and ultimately indulged in a catastrophic civil war. Shia Hazaras were divided into different factions. Similarly, the non-Hazaras formed the so-called group of 7, comprising of seven various Sunni mujahedeen factions. The internal conflicts among rival Hazara factions continued until the formation of Hizb e Wahdat, the Unity Party, by the charismatic leader Abdul Ali Mazari, who came up, for the first time, with the slogan that ‘being Hazara should no more be a crime’. His ethnic approach was disliked by Iran who had earlier supported various Shia factions on sectarian basis. It got worse when he refused to surrender to Burhanuddin Rabbani’s government because the Hazaras were not given their due share in power. On the other hand, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Abdul Rasul Sayyaf’s forces attacked on Kabul from multiple fronts. It all resulted to a horrific civil war in Kabul claiming thousands of lives.

Life under Taliban.

The birth of Taliban proved to be another nightmare for the beleaguered Hazara people. As Taliban approached Kabul while holding white flags and chanting peace, they lured Hizb-e-Wahdat leader Abdul Ali Mazari into a meeting with Taliban leader Mullah Omar to discuss peace but it turned out to be a trap as they tortured him to death and threw his dead body off a helicopter in Ghazni. His body was then transported to his hometown in Mazara e Sharif in a massive funeral procession. The Hazaras call him ‘Baba Mazari’, the Father, as a respect. Taliban continued its genocidal mayhem against the community throughout Hazarajat. After invasion of Bamiyan, for instance, they blew up the giant statues of Buddhas despite international community’s apparent efforts to prevent its destruction. They perused their policy of ethnic cleansing by mmercilessly massacring thousands of Hazaras in Bamiyan, Yakaolang, and later on in Mazar-e-Sharif and rest of Hazarajat throughout its barbaric rule between 1998 to 2001. 

The US-led NATO presence.

The removal of Taliban’s brutal emirate was warmly welcomed by Hazaras. Their armed militias and resistance forces surrendered voluntarily to the newly established government under Hamid Karzai’s leadership. The Hazaras were, for the first time in the country’s history, given a reasonable representation in the cabinet, 5 ministries out of total 27, including a vice president post. They began to thrive and let no stone unturned to make the best use of the historic opportunities. Schools, including girls’ schools, mushroomed across Hazarajat in no time. As a relatively less conservative community, the number of girls attending school exceeded those of boys in some Hazara populated districts. Dr Sima Samar, who later won Alternative Nobel Prize, became first minister of women’s affair and later chairperson of widely respected Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHC). First ever female governor in the country’s history was also a Hazara women, Dr Habiba Sarabi, who served as governor of Bamiyan from 2005 to 2013. A Hazara athlete, Rohullah Nekpai, secured the country’s first ever gold medal at the Olympic games in Beijing in 2008.

Hazara schoolgirls in Jaghori, Ghazni

It was, however, not an entirely golden period. Mass-kidnappings, targeted killings and attacks on Hazara people continued right under the nose of US-led ISAF forces. In 2015, for instance, the terrorists stopped passenger buses in Zabul, identified and separated Hazara passengers and then summarily executed them by slitting their throats, including a minor girl.

To get their voice heard in a civilized manner, the Enlightenment Movement, a non-violent grassroots movement largely lead by young Hazaras, organized the country’s largest and most peaceful demonstration in Kabul in 2016 to protest ex-president Ashraf Ghani’s decision to divert TUTAP power project, funded by Asian Development Bank, away from Hazarajat. Massive explosions reaped through the demonstrations leaving behind over a hundred dead and hundreds permanently maimed and injured. Maternity hospital in Hazara populated area of West Kabul was attacked last year and a girl’s school as late as May 2021, to name a few.

Return of Taliban

Nobody in their wildest dreams could have anticipated the return of Taliban to absolute power again. The people of Afghanistan were rightfully tired of the war and would not oppose any peaceful settlement with Taliban under the democratic constitution and a guarantee that the achievements of past two decades would be protected. But, for whatever reasons, the Taliban succeeded to take over Afghanistan militarily. And reestablished its islamist emirate through much anticipated all-male and all-Taliban cabinet without any consideration whatsoever to international communities’ demands of inclusion. Despite its spokesperson’s repeated assurances of inclusiveness and amnesty, the Taliban have already proved by action that they have not changed at all. Appointment of a number of UN-sanctioned Taliban members, such as Sirajuddin Haqqani, who has a USD 10 million bounty on his head, to its interim cabinet is actually a clear message to the world, particularly the West, that the regime has no intention to go soft.

When it comes to Hazaras, Taliban has already massacred Hazara civilians in Malistan district of Ghanzi and Daikundi province where they summarily executed a group of former soldiers after they had laid down their weapons. While Taliban might have shown some restraint vis-à-vis foreign journalists, its soldiers abducted Hazara reporters of widely circulated Daily Etilaat from the streets of West Kabul as they were covering women demonstration. They were unlawfully detained, whipped, tortured, humiliated and threatened to not report anything unpleasant about Taliban. One of Afghanistan’s largest newspapers has reported that people with links to Taliban have forcefully displaced Hazara families in Daikundi province, occupied their houses, grabbed their lands and looted their properties. Taliban’s central leadership has so far paid no heed to the residents’ plea to intervene.

It is obvious by now that Taliban are not going to give even a token representation to the historically beleaguered community in their government. It is utmost certain for now that the near future looks bleak for the persecuted community of Afghanistan, the Hazaras. Taliban does not represent the people of Afghanistan, not even the country’s Pashtuns. The people of Afghanistan, nonetheless, are still in the state of shock and disbelief. It will take some time for them to reorganize and stand up against Taliban. It is evident from the current indications that chances for Taliban to get some sort of international recognition look distant. If the Taliban fails to compromise, becomes an isolated pariah regime and the country’s economy collapses, the national uprising called by Ahmad Masoud of National Resistance Front will soon spread across the country. While it is true that the people of Afghanistan are tired of war, it is also correct that they will never tolerate a tyrant and extremist regime who would try to impose their extremist version of Sharia on an absolute majority of Afghans who do not subscribe to their ideology. The history of that unfortunate country has proven that the only thing constant in that country is change of regime, every while and then. And Taliban is by no means an exception.

Taliban’s ‘General Amnesty’ Does Not Apply To Afghanistan’s Defenceless Hazaras

Note: This article was origionally published on The Friday Times

The rapid collapse of the US-backed government of Afghanistan was entirely unforeseen and took everyone by surprise. The melting away of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) and the swift vapourization of political and military resistance against Taliban and the ultimate escape of former president Ashraf Ghani sent shockwaves through Afghanistan, particularly among women and vulnerable ethnic groups such as Hazaras.

As much as the removal of Taliban regime at the hands of US-led international forces had caused a sigh of relief, their return to power brought back harsh memories of their traumatic past. The Taliban had mercilessly massacred thousands of Hazaras in Bamiyan, Yakaolang, Mazar-e-Sharif and rest of Hazarajat with impunity from 1998 to 2001.

Hazaras were given, for the first time in the country’s history, constitutional guarantees to practice their rights as a full citizen. They had placed their faith solely to the newly established democratic system supported by the international community and therefore voluntarily submitted their weapons, military equipment and surrendered their militias wholeheartedly to the central government. They flocked instead to schools, colleges and universities, women more than men in some districts.

A Hazara woman, Dr Habiba Sarabi, became Afghanistan’s first governor in Bamiyan, partly because the people of Bamiyan had no issue with a female governor. The country’s internationally respected Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) was founded and led by a Hazara women, Dr Sima Samar. The country’s first ever gold medal in the Olympic games was brought home by a Hazara, Rohullah Nekpai. They thrived relatively well in the presence of the international community, despite facing widespread discrimination In society.

All these achievements will be nullified under Taliban rule. The Hazaras fear – rather rationally – that history is going to repeat itself, for several plausible reasons:

The Taliban are stronger than ever

The Taliban have returned to power after 20 years of intensive war and ultimately ‘defeating’ the world’s largest and strongest military alliance led by the US. They are much more arrogant, brutally experienced and more self-righteous this time around. They will therefore establish an exclusive ethnocentric emirate based on Sharia as per their own fundamentalist interpretation, which will surely have no space followers of the Shia branch of Islam and Hazaras at large. All laws and regulations, including personal and family law jurisprudence, will most certainly be based on Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia.

Hazaras are weaker than ever

As such, Hazaras are totally defenseless now and lack the necessarily tools to put up a meaningful resistance against the Taliban. This is because they have no weapons to pick up if the Taliban decide to fully subjugate them to persecution. As opposed to the 1990s when Hazara resistance forces were armed top to toe. A couple of former militiamen who tried to establish their footprints in Hazarajat in recent years were crushed by Ashraf Ghani, who also refused to deliver arms to anti-Taliban uprising forces until the very last. Hazaras have no more an organized political party lead by a strong charismatic leadership. Hizb-e-Wahdat is split into various factions, of whom Karim Khalili and Mohammed Mohaqiq are currently in Islamabad trying to secure some place for themselves in the future. They lack the political and military capabilities to put up a fight if Taliban deny them power-sharing.

Contrary to the misperception that Hazaras are allied with Iran and have their backing, the clerical regime of Iran has been supporting Taliban against the US-led Western forces over last two decades, both militarily and financially, in their own larger national interest. None of the prominent Hazara leaders, for instance, has fled to Iran after Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.

Hazara men and women attending a concert in Bamiyan

As mentioned above, Khalili and Mohaqiq have effectively taken refuge in Pakistan, quite ironically. Even former president Ashraf Ghani’s second vice president, a Hazara, Sarwar Danish, who was educated in Iran, has fled to Turkey instead. Lack of external support makes the community even more vulnerable as there is no regional player who would bargain on their behalf while negotiating with the Taliban.

No amnesty for Hazaras

The Taliban have already proved by their actions – contrary to what their spokesmen say to the foreign media – that Hazaras’ lives do not matter. Scores of Hazara civilians, including children, were massacred in Malistan district of Ghanzi in July after the Taliban took over the district. Their announcement of general amnesty seems not to apply to Hazaras. They have largely taken over the provincial capitals and military check posts through stick-and-carrot policy. But when it comes to Hazaras, they have shown no mercy as they summarily executed a group of their former soldiers after they had surrendered last week.

As a historically persecuted ethnic group, it is almost certain that Hazaras will not be given any meaningful representation in the upcoming government or emirate run by Taliban. A couple of very symbolic faces may be included in the new setup, if only under pressure by the international community. But the Taliban will ultimately run the country as per their own wishes. It is widely believed that the Taliban will systematically limit educational and job opportunities for Hazaras. It can be said with utmost certainty that Hazara people will be immensely marginalized under Taliban rule; economically, socially and politically.

Hazaras fall victim to the Taliban’s internal conflicts

The Taliban are not a totally unified entity. There are internal conflicts, largely between the Haqqani network and the Hibatullah group. One group is not in unison with another due to tribal, ideological and regional rivalries. Conflicts over share of power and control of major cities, particularly Kabul, is one of the reasons why the group has failed to form a government. And then there is a serious disconnect between the Taliban’s political faces on the one hand, who talk of amnesty for all, and their ideological rank-and-file, who will not easily adapt the policy of inclusion – even if Taliban leadership wishes to. If they are pushed hard, there is a huge risk that their foot soldiers will defect and make their own factions, who may target the weakest of all – the Hazaras – to attract attention. This dynamic is already evident from the actions of their local commanders: such as those who blew up Abdul Ali Mazari’s statue in Bamiyan after Zabihullah Mujahid’s press conference in Kabul, in which he had declared a general amnesty and promised protection of citizens’ lives and safety of their properties. Taliban spokespersons admit, when confronted by the media, that they need some time to bring discipline into their rank-and-file. If they don’t give heed to the leadership’s advice and recommendations now, there is no indication they will do it in the future when the dust settles down and the focus of media attention goes away from Afghanistan.

Rise of ISIS-Khorasan

Last but not least, even if we accept – for a second – that the Taliban have changed and they will not subject Hazaras to further subjugation and persecution, the very fact that Taliban opened the doors of all the prisons across Afghanistan and let all the fighters of ISIS-K, Al-Qaeda, TTP, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Alami, IMU, ETIM et al go free as the air, sets off alarm bells.

Many of those terrorists were reportedly captured in relation to some of the most gruesome attacks on civilians, particularly mosques, hospitals and schools in Hazara-populated areas. Disguised as Taliban, ISIS-K fighters have already infiltrated many strategic areas, acquiring military equipment and financial capacity that make them far stronger than before. The group might keep a low profile for some time, mostly to be able to increase their influence, regroup and get ready for a powerful reemergence. In order to compete with Taliban, both in terms of ideology and recruitment of more fighters from inside Afghanistan and abroad, it will try to stage some gruesome attacks, mostly on helpless civilians. If such a situation develops – and it is feared that it will, indeed – there is no evidence so far that Taliban will protect the Shias, and Hazaras at large, against the ISIS-K or its affiliates such LeJ-al-Alami.

This fear has resulted in a great sense of hopelessness and helplessness among the community members. And so, they try to flee the country – but, as always, only those who can.