Some residents of Jaghori district in Ghazni province claim that a Taliban’s morality police official has expelled at least 50 Hazara street vendors from the Sang-e-Masha bazaar and handed it over to Pashtuns from Muqur district in Ghazni province and Shinkay district in Zabul province. They assert their dismay at the extensive interference and harassment by the Taliban’s morality police. Residents emphasize that this Taliban entity has imposed strict restrictions on personal and collective livelihoods in the district, openly meddling in the official affairs of government offices under their control.
Residents of Jaghori district further state that the Taliban’s morality police officials, besides imposing stringent restrictions on personal and collective livelihoods, openly interfere in the administrative and official affairs of government departments in this district.
Residents of Jaghori report that the Taliban’s morality police recently expelled dozens of Hazara traders and street vendors from a market in Sang-e-Masha city, the center of Jaghori district. The market was then handed over to Pashtuns from Muqur district in Ghazni province and Shinkay district in Zabul province.
They claim that nearly 50 traders and vendors, operating businesses in the market belong to a personal ownership. According to their claims, Mawlawi Muzzamil, the Taliban morality police official, forcefully evacuated the market for Pashtuns from the Muqur district and Shinkay district.
According to residents of Jaghori, the Taliban’s morality police in this district engage in coercion and are not even accountable to other local Taliban officials.
A resident of the Sang-e-Masha area in the center of Jaghori district, while preserving anonymity, asserts that this Taliban figure engages in coercion in this district and has also been involved in disputes with the Taliban’s mayor regarding shops.
The resident adds: “When the morality police arrived at our market, they claimed that this land belongs to the municipality, and you must vacate the area. We consulted the landowner, to whom we pay rent annually, to clarify the matter.”
He specifies that the landowner, accompanied by several representatives of the vendors, went to the municipality, and after examination, it became clear that it is privately owned. He says: “After the clarification, it was determined to be private property. However, Mawlawi Muzzamil, the Taliban’s morality police official in the Jaghori district, came to the market the next day and ordered us to vacate the area by tomorrow. When the mayor attempted to resolve the matter, he was threatened with a gun and told not to interfere.”
This Jaghori resident emphasizes that as a result of pressure from this high-ranking Taliban member in the district, 50 Hazara traders and vendors have lost their livelihoods and are facing an uncertain future. He says: “We neither committed any wrongdoing nor any crime. We could barely afford a piece of bread on this land, and each of us has a family. We don’t know who to turn to or what to do next.”
Another resident of Jaghori district accuses the Taliban’s morality police official of financial corruption. He claims that Mawlawi Muzzamil has taken bribes and handed over the area to Pashtuns from neighboring districts. He states, “With power in his hands, he has exploited his authority, pocketed 500,000 Afghanis from the Pashtuns, and displaced us from our rightful place.”
This matter has also sparked discussions on social media among the residents of the Jaghori district. However, local Taliban authorities in this district have not issued any official response regarding the coercion and seizure of personal property by their morality police officials, as of the publication of this report.
Over the past nearly three years, the Taliban’s morality police department has imposed significant restrictions on the lives of citizens, particularly women and girls.
This Taliban entity in Jaghori district, Ghazni province, has threatened the people that they will face punishment if they do not comply with its orders.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
امر به معروف طالبان در جاغوری، «بازار هزارهها را به پشتونها داده است»
