Indigenous Hazaras are being forced to migrate from some villages in the Gizab region of Daikundi province. According to locals, in the first phase on Friday, about 400 families from the Gibab’s Kindir village were forced to flee to neighbouring villages or parts of Kandahar province.
An influential figure in Pato district of Daikundi province, speaking on condition of anonymity, told 8 am that Taliban-advocates have claimed ownership of about 15 Hazara villages in the Lorashio and Tagabdar regions, evicting residents of Kandir village in the first phase. The local figure reported that the migrants has lost all annual crops, including wheat, corn, almonds and other crops. Displaced people are in a precarious condition, he said, stressing that people have no place to live in and no food to eat in the coming winter season.
Earlier, residents of the villages of Nawabad and Balaser-e-Tagabdar had said that they had lived in the region for more than 40 years and that no one had claimed ownership of their lands and properties. Recently, however, some Pashtun Tribesmen, with the “support” of some local Taliban, have claimed ownership of the Hazara land and property.
The local figure added that according to the plan, the natives of Tagabdar village were to leave all their properties in Gizan on Saturday, and other villages would do the same on the coming days. In the villages of Tagabdar and Nawabad, ten days ago, about 300 families were warned to evacuate within nine days and move to another location. Inhabitants of these villages are also forced to leave their lands and properties soon.
The perpetrator of the forced displacement of Gizab residents is a man named “Jomhuri Khan” who, according to a local resident, is the commander of a military unit and is currently working with the Taliban governor of Daikundi province. Jomhur Khan is also mentioned as the Taliban’s deputy governor for Daikundi province. Sources in Gizab say that Jomhuri Khan identifies himself as a “Pashtun-related Timuri tribesman,” claiming that the villages of Tagabdar and Nawabad are his personal property.
According to locals in Daikundi’s Gizab, the Kuchis and Pashtun tribesmen of Chaharchino and Gizab districts have claimed the ownership over the Hazara lands and properties in the most parts of this region, except for the Tagabdar village, where one of the litigants is a local resident of Khalaj area. The local source added that indigenous people are being forcibly displaced by Taliban militants. He stressed that the pretenders do not have any legal documents and want to seize their fertile lands by force.
On Friday, Mohammad Mohaqiq, the leader of the People’s Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan, wrote on his official Facebook page that he had been informed that “the Taliban have deployed their vanguard forces in the Kandir and Dahan-e-Nala areas and forcibly displaced Hazaras from their fertile lands, distributing their lands to Taliban affiliates.”
Mr. Mohaqiq said the number of families was about 800 and that these families have sought refuge to Daikundi by order of Taliban Governor Aminullah Zubair. The Taliban have called Mr. Mohaqiq’s claim “propaganda” and denied it. A letter was also posted on social media indicating that the Taliban governor had ordered the evacuation of Hazaras from these villages.
In an interview with BBC Persian on Thursday (September 23rd), Mohammad Mohaqiq also said that the number of Hazara families forced to evacuate from Daikundi reach 2,400.
However, locals are urging the Taliban leadership to send a competent and impartial delegation to Daikundi to investigate the issue closely, prosecuting those who misuse the Taliban name.
On the other hand, Maulavi Siddiq Ullah Abed, the Taliban police chief for Daikundi province, told 8 am Daily that the news of the forced migration of people was not true and that it was a propaganda. Abed added that the recent controversy is a legal issue. According to Mr. Abed, those who he says are making fuss have “spent their entire lives in sedition and corruption.”
The local Taliban military official also said that those who have usurped these lands (indigenous Hazaras) are making a fuss now that the judiciary has decided that the right should go to the rightful. He stressed that if there is an injustice against the people, they should go to the local administration to solve their problem. He claims that so far no one has approached to the provincial capital because of this problem.
