Hazara minority persecuted again in Afghanistan

The Afghan people are reliving what they left behind two decades ago. The Taliban's 1996-2001 regime of terror is a carbon copy of what they are trying to re-impose in Afghanistan, not without a number of complications brought about by the recent attacks. Promises of internal reform were immediately buried and, as their rule takes hold, the enemies of the Taliban worldview are beginning to suffer the consequences.

The Hazara community, a Shia minority scattered across the mountainous centre of the country, is one of the insurgents' immovable targets. Accused of apostasy by Sunni Muslims, the Hazara are the third largest ethnic group after the Pashtuns and Tajiks, although they represent 15% of Afghanistan's population of 38 million. These conditions have for decades explained their persecution in Afghanistan by the Taliban, but above all by Daesh.

After the fall of Kabul, the fundamentalist militia has threatened the rights of this community, which were protected under the previous government. In fact, on Monday, the Taliban expelled thousands of Hazaras from their homes in the Hazarayat region, translated as "the land of the Hazara", over a land dispute with several Pashtun leaders, the majority ethnic group from which the fundamentalist militia draws its strength. The Shia minority had occupied this land for half a century, but the Pashtuns defended their previous settlement and denounced their expropriation.

The expulsions have left more than 700 Hazara families, mostly from the villages of Uruzgan and Daikundi, destitute, according to Efe news agency. The members of the community, most of them crop-dependent farmers, have been forced to camp in tents or stay in houses reduced to rubble, conditions that are extremely adverse "when the harsh Afghan winter is approaching", a Hazara member told Efe.

In this situation, the Hazara have made a desperate appeal to the Taliban to stop the expulsions. The community claims that this action is against the law, so they are demanding that Kabul send a special delegation to register the documents related to the land and that it is ultimately up to the judiciary to decide who is entitled to it. The Hazara claim that they will abide by any solution that comes out of this process.

The insurgents have not commented on this particular issue. On the contrary, the Taliban government held its first formal meeting in the capital on Monday, according to the group's spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, who announced via Twitter that they had sent a request to Kabul province to stop "usurpation of property" and to take legal action against those who commit this misappropriation. So far, the decision has not gone beyond the region.

In any case, it is difficult to believe that a possible Taliban intervention would defend the interests of the Shiite minority, especially if they go against Pashtun interests. In fact, when the Taliban themselves came to power in 1996 after the civil war, they declared jihad against the Hazara, launching a persecution that resulted in the death and displacement of thousands of Hazaras.

For the Taliban they are considered heretics, in the same way as other Muslim believers of the Shiite branch. And even more so for Islamic terrorist groups such as Daesh or Al Qaeda, the main perpetrators of the attacks that have killed hundreds of Hazaras in recent years.

However, Afghanistan's third largest ethnic group has not been the first or the only one to leave their homes behind through coercion and threats. A fortnight ago, more than 2,000 families were driven from their homes in the southern province of Kandahar to be occupied by Taliban militants. At the same time, the country is reeling from the adverse economic situation.