The Hazaras being targeted and killed is not a new issue, this ethnic group has been subjected to suicide attacks and explosive, and aggressive attacks for years. This ethnic group has not been safe anywhere since 2014. Their Schools, colleges, mosques, gymnasiums, wedding halls, hospitals, roads, and passenger cars have been attacked and there have been hundreds of victims for years. Are the Hazaras a victim of political goals?
When it comes to politics, money, weapons, technology, having a natural border, a specific and realizable ideology, collective consciousness, in-group and out-group unity, and having a deep relationship with foreign organizations based on common interests are the elements that play the most important role. The Hazaras do not have any of the aforementioned elements. Because these are obtained as a result of years of effort, research, and natural consequences. After the “massacre” of the Hazaras by Amir Abdul Rahman Khan, this ethnic group did not get a chance to get at least one of these pieces of the political game proposition so that they could have something to stand upon and benefit it when the game of war or the game of peace being played.
It is not just a coincidence that the Hazaras are used to “mourning”, both in their religious ceremonies and in their daily lives, which are often tied to a massacre, poverty, and/or displacement. The Psychologist Sigmund Freud said: “Unspoken feelings do not die, but are buried alive and manifest in a different way.” Expressing anger on social media, petitions, and expressing condolences and sympathy are the same unspoken voices that have been suppressed for years and are now emerging from social media. In most cases, it has failed to attract the attention of the international community. The term “terrorism” was created at the same time when mass media and social media emerged; Because terrorism in its true sense is the creation of terror, and social media adds fuel to that fire.
On the other hand, the Hazara and non-Hazara elites – those who are truly affected by the “genocide” of the Hazaras – both inside and outside of Afghanistan, have never created and presented a detailed and realistic plan to protect this ethnic group in the short and long term. Before the Hazaras can gain one of these elements of the political game, what is the main factor that can protect them from these attacks that they willy-nilly get caught up in?
The explosions in “Kaj”, “Mauood” and “Kausar” Educational Centers, “Sayed ul-Shohada” High School, “Abdul Rahim Shahid” High School, the “Enlightenment Movement” and some other attacks have a common denominator. Most of the victims are girls/women, Hazara, Farsi-speaking, religiously Shiite, and students. If someone has one of these signs in Afghanistan, he is facing discrimination; But if someone has all these signs, he is facing the worst discrimination that history has not experienced yet, and he is in the direct crosshairs of groups such as the Taliban and ISIS, who have no tolerance for these signs.
The Taliban’s Behavior with These Signs
When Abdul Manan Niazi, the governor of the Taliban in Balkh province during their first rule on Afghanistan, announced through loudspeakers in Mazar-e-Sharif that the Hazaras should go to the “cemetery”. He massacred more than two thousand Hazaras. After that, he confessed to killing Hazaras. On the other hand, on the 7th and 8th of January 2001, the worst massacre was carried out by the Taliban in the Yakawalang district of Bamiyan province, where the absolute majority was the Hazaras. At that time, the Taliban expressed themselves with a massacre language that they cannot build with the Hazaras. In their second rule, there is still no sign of reconciliation between the Taliban and these people.
The women of Afghanistan have not yet forgotten this group’s slogans during their first rule over Afghanistan that was saying; women “must not study”, “must not work”, “must wear hijab” and “must stay at home”, and once again this group regained power after 20 years and they have once again repeat those demands. They eliminated the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, banned girls above the sixth grade from education, made hijab mandatory, did not let most women return to their activities in government offices, and their government is completely patriarchal.
The Taliban group has always been accused of “anti-Persianism”. The cultural activists claim that the Taliban are seeking to “eliminate the Persian language”. The Taliban have removed Farsi from the Supreme Court, Tajwar Sultana High School, Nimroz Province Appeal Court, Faryab Province Appeal Court, and Herat, Takhar, Balkh, and Baghlan universities. They did not stop there and even collected Persian tablets from some education departments of Herat province. This approach shows that the Taliban are enemies of this language and the Hazaras also speak Persian.
The Taliban’s “manifesto” written by Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the president of the Supreme Court of the Taliban, and signed by Hibatullah Akhundzada, states that the only acceptable religion in the “Emirate system” is the Hanafi religion. On the other hand, Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan, stated in his latest research report that the Taliban have imposed a religious tax on them against the principles of the Shia religion.
In the videos that circulated on social media a while ago, Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani, one of the Taliban ideologues who was killed by ISIS, clearly stated in a telephone conversation that Shias are “infidels”, the Hazaras in Afghanistan are Shias and marriage with Shias; “it is forbidden”. In this way, the extremist Sunni Taliban cannot tolerate the existence of Shia in Afghanistan.
The girls’ middle and high school education in Afghanistan has been closed for more than a year. Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban is the only country in the world that has banned education based on gender. The latest explosion took place in the educational center while the National Entrance Examination is closing in. Khaled Hanafi, acting the Minister of the Ministry of Promoting Virtue, Preventing Evil, Summons & Hearing Complaints, said: “Education is permissible, not obligatory, but the ruling of the Amir is obligatory on men and women.” With this speech and the ruling of “Amir”, the Taliban are seriously opposed to education; Because they think that educated people, especially women, do not obey their orders and are considered a danger to their government.
In this way, when we see the Taliban’s serious opposition to these signs clearly, we find that the explosions of educational and religious centers on a group that has all these signs are systematic and planned. If it is the Taliban or ISIS, it is carrying out the same plans as the Taliban and trying to dry up the green pines. The question is, how long can these pines (Kaaj) withstand the harsh winter and not dry up?
Author: Sarwar Mirzad – Analyst and Opinion Writer, Hasht-e Subh Daily
