History of the Hazaras

Background of HazarasBY: OLIVIA EBERLE & KENNY BJELLQUIST

Hazara People

The Hazāra are a Persian-speaking people residing in the central region of Afghanistan (referred to as Hazarajat) and northwestern Pakistan.

The Hazara are predominantly Shia Muslims and are the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, comprising 9% of the population.

Hazaras can also be found in large numbers in neighboring Iran and Pakistan, primarily as refugees, and as diaspora around the world.

Hazaras Features The strongly Mongoloid

appearance of the Hazara makes it easy to distinguish them from the neighboring populations.

What are the features?- Flat noses- Narrow eyes- Scant facial hair- Shorter in stature

Hazara People

Hazara Land

Hazarajat, the land of the Hazara, comprises the mountainous central areas of Afghanistan.

While other areas of Afghanistan are multiethnic, only Hazara live permanently in Hazarajat.

Hazarajat is landlocked in the middle of Afghanistan. The geographical boundary arguably coincides with a political boundary between distinct populations.

Hazara Origin

Hazaras are among few races on the face of the earth about whose origin so little is known. Research done on Hazara background suggests that they are the descendants of Genghis Khan, the great Mongol warrior of 13th Century. This theory is supported by the similarities in the language and words that Mongols and Hazaras use even today. Another plausible theory is that Hazaras were Buddhists that actually lived in Afghanistan for the known history at least since the time of the Kushan Dynasty some 2000 years ago.

Treatment

The Hazarajat had remained virtually independent until 1893 when it was conquered by the Pashtun King Abdul Rehman, who initiated the first anti-Hazara program.

He did this by killing thousands of Hazaras, moving thousands more to Kabul where they lived as indentured serfs and servants, and destroying their mosques.

Treatment continued

Hazaras are the largest Shia Muslim group in Afghanistan, estimated to be 3-4 million.

The Taliban had brought a new edge to the conflict for they treated all Shias as munafaqeen or hypocrites and beyond the pale of true Islam.

Conflict

The Hazara suffered under the rule of the Taliban.The Taliban had Hazarajat totally isolated from the rest of the world going as far as not allowing the United Nations to deliver food to the provinces. During the years that followed, Hazaras suffered severe oppression and many large ethnic massacres and rapes were carried out by the predominately ethnic Pashtun Taliban. These human rights abuses not only occurred in Hazarajat, but across all areas controlled by the Taliban. Particularly after their capture of Mazar-e Sharif in 1998, where after a massive killing of some 8000 civilians, the Taliban openly declared that the Hazaras

would be targeted.

Conflict Continued

Over the past century, the two peoples have fought periodically, and the Hazaras, who are thought to make up between nine and nineteen percent of Afghanistan’s population, have usually lost. On the border between the Hazara heartland, in the country’s mountainous and impoverished center, and the Pashtun plains in the south and east, conflicts over grazing land are common. But, working alongside NATO soldiers, Hazara police units are now operating far to the south of these traditional battlegrounds and deep into Pashtun territory.