Persecution of Hazaras

A woman prays in front of the graves at a Hazara cemetery for the Shi'ite Hazara community martyrs on a hill on the outskirts of Kabul. Decades of persecution has left the Hazara minority with little space left in its graveyards[1][2]

The Hazaras have long been the subject of persecution in Afghanistan, including enslavement during the 19th century and ethnic and religious persecution for hundreds of years.[3] In the 20th and 21st centuries, they have also been the victims of massacres committed by the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Hazaras have been systemically killed and discriminated against socially, economically, and culturally with specific intent, argued by some to constitute genocide.[4][3][5] The Hazaras primarily come from the central regions of Afghanistan, known as Hazarajat. Significant communities of Hazara people also live in Quetta, Pakistan and in Mashad, Iran, as part of the Hazara and Afghan diasporas.

Map of Kabul Province and its surroundings showing the boundaries of the different Hazara tribes in 1893. Between 1888 and 1893, nearly 60% of the Hazaras were massacred and their land seized by the Pashtuns. Today, Uruzgan Province and many areas that were inhabited by Hazaras until 1893 are now mostly inhabited by Pashtuns.

During the reign of Amir Abdur Rahman (1880–1901), millions of Hazaras were massacred, expelled, and displaced.[6] Half the population of Hazarajat was killed or fled to neighboring regions of Balochistan in British India[7] and Khorasan in Iran.[6] This led to Pashtuns and other ethnic groups occupying parts of Hazarajat.

Conditions significantly improved for the Hazaras in Afghanistan during the Republic era, and Hazaras were represented in national government.[8][9] However, Hazaras still faced discrimination throughout the country and under government policies, including access to infrastructure.[10] Those who lived in the southern provinces of Afghanistan continued to face prejudice at the hands of Pashtuns without repercussion.[9]

Dozens of women from the Hazara community of Afghanistan protested after a suicide bombing in September 2022, occurred in an educational center that killed more than 52 young girls.

Since 2021, the Hazaras have suffered from widespread ethnic discrimination,[11][12][13] religious persecution,[14][15] and organized attacks by terrorist groups.[16][17] Under the Taliban, Hazaras face deliberate economic restrictions to weaken and create economic backwardness of Hazara regions.[18][19][20] Thousands of Hazaras have been forcibly seized from their ancestral lands and homes[21][22][23] and undergo the occupation of pastures by Pashtun nomads and Taliban supporters.[24][25] The seizure of agricultural fields has forced Hazara farmers to migrate or flee from Afghanistan.[26][27] Additionally, Hazara girls and women endure harassment and arbitrary arrest,[28][29] kidnapping, and rape and torture in prison.[30][31][32] Numerous cases of human rights violations against Hazaras have caused many Hazaras to be displaced and gradually forced to flee Afghanistan.[33][34][35][36]

The 33-member Taliban government currently excludes any Hazara representation.[8] Despite constituting up to 19% of Afghanistan's population, Hazaras have not been appointed for any ministries, provincial administrations, security commands, or army corps.[8][37] The Taliban also revoked the Shia Personal Status Law, resulting in the disenfranchisement of the Hazara and Shia community within the country.[8] Other restrictions and sanctions on Hazara include ban on the teaching of Shia Jafari doctrine in higher education, removal of Ashura as a national holiday, and restrictions on Muharram.[38]

  1. ^ Ebrahim, Zofeen T. "Going to a graveyard: Afghan Hazaras dread Pakistan expulsion | Context". www.context.news. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  2. ^ Baloch, Shah Meer (5 April 2021). "'Every year we dig mass graves': the slaughter of Pakistan's Hazara". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  3. ^ a b Hakimi, Mehdi (20 July 2023). "The Afghan State and the Hazara Genocide". Harvard Human Rights Journal. 37. SSRN 4516797.
  4. ^ "ABA Adopts Resolution to Recognize, Stop, and Prevent Further Acts of Genocide Against Hazara". International Criminal Law Committee. 6 August 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  5. ^ Stanton, Gregory H. (13 October 2023). "Preventing Genocide within Afghanistan from an Anthropological Framework, with Genocide Watch President Dr. Gregory H. Stanton". Georgetown Journal of International Affairs.
  6. ^ a b Alessandro Monsutti (15 December 2003). "HAZĀRA ii. HISTORY". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  7. ^ "Who are the Hazara". Pak Tribune. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  8. ^ a b c d KabulNow (1 April 2024). "Hazaras and Shias: Violence, Discrimination, and Exclusion Under Taliban". KabulNow. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Afghanistan: Information on situation of Hazaras in post-Taliban Afghanistan". Refworld. 4 April 2003.
  10. ^ Reuters (16 May 2016). "Hazara people march on Kabul in power line protest". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 December 2024. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  11. ^ "Hazaras in Afghanistan". Minority Rights Group. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  12. ^ "Hazaras and Shias: Violence, Discrimination, and Exclusion Under the Taliban". www.jurist.org. 14 May 2024. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  13. ^ "The Plight of Hazaras Under the Taliban Government". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  14. ^ "Hazaras (Afghanistan and Pakistan) - Hansard - UK Parliament". August 2025.
  15. ^ "Afghanistan: ISIS Group Targets Religious Minorities | Human Rights Watch". 6 September 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  16. ^ "Deliberate Attacks On Civilians And Hazaras Are War Crimes, Says HRW". Afghanistan International. 4 May 2024. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  17. ^ "Afghanistan: ISIS Group Targets Religious Minorities | Human Rights Watch". 6 September 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  18. ^ "#6: Life under the Taliban". www.vidc.org. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  19. ^ Iltaf, Maisam (23 January 2024). "Taliban's Disruption of Aid Programs Push Hazaras To the Brink". KabulNow. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  20. ^ "Unfair Distribution of Humanitarian Aid in Afghanistan". Bamyan Foundation. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  21. ^ "Land Seizure Allegations: Taliban Declare Hazara Neighborhood Property Documents Invalid in Ghazni Province". Hasht-e Subh Daily. 9 June 2024.
  22. ^ rmasumi1 (13 October 2023). "Taliban Confiscate Hazara Land". genocidewatch. Retrieved 12 June 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ "Afghanistan: Taliban Forcibly Evict Minority Shia | Human Rights Watch". 22 October 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  24. ^ "Law of the Gun". KabulNow. 23 January 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  25. ^ "Kuchi Land-Grabbers Speed Up Construction Works on Hazara Settlements in Ghazni's Jaghatu District". Hasht-e Subh Daily. 17 December 2022.
  26. ^ Qazi, Shereena. "Why are Hazaras being evicted from their homes in Afghanistan's Daikundi?". Why are Hazaras being evicted from their homes in Afghanistan's Daikundi?. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  27. ^ Mehran, Moqim (27 September 2023). "The Massacre of Hazaras in Oruzgan; Ethnic Prejudice and Land Grab Politics". Hasht-e Subh Daily.
  28. ^ Taj, Zareen (10 April 2024). "Taliban Gender Apartheid: Genocide of Hazara Women". genocidewatch. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  29. ^ Times, Zan (22 January 2024). "'I was arrested for the crime of being a Hazara and a woman': The Taliban's 'bad hijab' campaign targets Hazara women". Zan Times. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  30. ^ "one-experience-two-perspectives-inside-the-lives-of-women-in-talibans-detention-centers-in-kabul". 6 April 2024.
  31. ^ Manish, Abdul Wahed (18 September 2023). "The Taliban Abducted a Hazara Girl from Islamic Darul Uloom for Forced Marriage". Voice of Citizen News. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  32. ^ "Strange Exiles; Taliban Tortured Hazara Girls under the Name of Unbelievers and Rejectionists | Jade Abresham". 16 October 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  33. ^ "Opinion: The gradual genocide of Hazara in Afghanistan". www.massey.ac.nz. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  34. ^ "Between a rock and a hard place: The Hazaras in Afghanistan". orfonline.org. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  35. ^ "Who are the Hazaras and what are they escaping By Reuters". Reuters.
  36. ^ Baloch, Shah Meer (29 August 2021). "Hazara Shias flee Afghanistan fearing Taliban persecution". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  37. ^ "Afghanistan: The Hazara dread | Lowy Institute". www.lowyinstitute.org. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  38. ^ "[Statement] Afghanistan: Protect the persecuted Shia Hazaras in Afghanistan – FORUM-ASIA". forum-asia.org. Retrieved 6 December 2024.

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search