The Hazara people have long been pushed to the bottom of society by the majority of Afghanistan. Their systematic abuse by the Taliban has been called a genocide. There is a history of massacres that continues to today - and has spread to neighbouring countries.

Taliban Attacks

The genocide of the Hazaras, who are a minority in their language, culture and religion, has a long history in their homeland. The latest era of violence began in August 1998, when the Taliban organized a mass murder of Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharif. Human Rights Watch estimates there were some 2,000 people executed and possibly many more. House-to-house searches particularly targeted Hazaras because of their religious identity.

In late October 2018, the Taliban attacks in the Hazara populated region of Khas Uruzgan where dozens of civilians were killed and at least 500 families displaced.

In early November 2018, Taliban attacks on Hazaras in Ghazni province where 67 people were killed and 70 others were injured. There are estimates quoted from Today’s Information - an Afghan news agency - that 60-70% of people living in the area were displaced.

Terror on the Road

Poverty and insecurity drive many Hazaras to migrate to cities such as Kabul. However, the journey to Kabul from Hazarajat in the centre of the country has proven dangerous.

The main roadway between the two areas has been the site of kidnappings and other deadly Taliban attacks on Hazaras in recent years. Just west of the city Maidan Shahr, the 40 km stretch of highway has been called Death Road because so many Hazara people have been slaughtered on that stretch of pavement.

A local Hazara man says he has seen so many headless bodies on the road.

“I have become ill and have nightmares."

- Mohammad Hussein, in a December 2015 article in the Hindustan Times

This violence on the main roadway has isolated and stalled the development of the Hazara people, who require labour and materials from Kabul to build facilities such as schools and clinics. And having successfully arrived in Kabul, Hazaras have often been unable or afraid to return to their previous homes.

Government Complicity

In Afghanistan a climate of impunity allows those who committed atrocities to evade justice. The land disputes that the Taliban win with a heavy hand, demonstrate the lack of governance in Afghanistan.. The Taliban control rural areas by gaining control of the land.

Property is key to survival in a country where an estimated 80% of citizens depend on agriculture for a living. USAID Land and Urban Office published an article by Peter Giampaoli about land and property rights in Afghanistan:

“In the absence of a strong central government, local elites, warlords and political factions control land and natural resources with intimidation, force, and customary legal regimes that reflect deeply entrenched power systems.”

The lack of security provided by the government for Hazara citizens to travel their own roads illustrates how little power and governance the Afghan government has against local warlords.

Other Dangers

It is not the Taliban alone that targets the Hazara community. They are also a target for IS or Daesh - so much so, that the Hazara community doesn’t largely doesn’t distinguish between them. Being Shi’a and therefore both a religious and a visible ethnic minority,

Hazaras are particularly vulnerable. Suicide bombings targeting Hazara public events have taken place with increasing regularity, most of which have been claimed by groups stating allegiance with ISIS.

These include, in July 2016, the killing of 85 people at a peaceful protest of mostly Hazaras. It was the deadliest attack on civilians since 2002 and targeted the Hazara on the basis of their Shi’a religious identity.

Other attacks include a December 2017 bombing that left at least 41 dead and another 80 injured in a Hazara neighbourhood of western Kabul and an assault in March 2018 that resulted in the deaths of at least nine people.

The Place of Women

Hazara women have traditionally enjoyed more freedom in their society than other ethnic groups. In the post-Taliban period, they have benefited considerably from political and educational reforms.

The influence of Shi’a personal laws has threatened that freedom. In 2009 the controversial Shi’a personal status law was passed, stripping Shi’a women, many of whom are Hazara, of some of their basic rights enshrined in the constitution, such as restricting women from working without permission from their husbands, and denying women custody over their children.

The law was reportedly drafted by a powerful Shi’a cleric and pushed through by conservative faith community leaders, who did not adequately consult or protect the rights of Shi’a women.

Attacks in Pakistan

The violent persecution and displacement of the Hazara people also occurs in Pakistan, especially in the regions of Quetta and Balochistan. A report by Asian Human Rights Watch has alleged that terrorists in Quetta region have full support of the Pakistani government and its intelligence agencies, and trained by the Federal FC force itself.

The Pakistani government may be allowing the genocide of Hazaras as a warning to Hazaras in Afghanistan, who are seen as sympathetic to the West and against Taliban forces.

The persecution of Hazaras in Pakistan has continued almost unabated since the 1970s when General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq came to power and initiated a policy of Islamisation of Pakistan. This policy lead to the marginalization of Hazaras and the growth of militant religious Sunni and anti-Shia groups.9 It became particularly violent during the 1990s when the Taliban controlled Afghanistan and many Hazara Shia Muslims fled to Quetta in the province of Balochistan, Pakistan.

Recent attacks indicate the continued persecution of Hazaras in Pakistan. On January 3, 2021 an attack on a coal mine in the Mach area of Balochistan led to the deaths of 11 Shia Hazara coal miners. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the killings. Reports note that the terrorists carried out identity checks on the miners and the Hazara miners were blindfolded and had their hands tied behind their backs before having their throats slit. Non-Hazara miners were left unharmed.

The Pakistani province of Balochistan has witnessed violence against Hazaras for more than a decade and half by militants who consider them as heretics. A report from Pakistan’s National Commission of Human Rights in 2018 noted that official figures indicate that 509 Hazaras have been killed and 627 injured in incidents of sectarian violence since January 2012.

The commission indicates that over 2,000 members of the community were killed in the past 14 years.

Sources: Original research, MinorityRights.org

Human Rights Watch “Massacres of Hazara in Afghanistan” February 1, 2001 https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a87c4.html

Human Rights Watch “Afghanistan: The Massacre in Mazar-i-Sharif”, November 1998 Vol. 10, No. 7 https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports98/afghan/Afrepor0.htm

Al Jazeera, September 18, 2019 by Bismellah Alizada https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/peace-means-afghanistan-hazara-minority-190917151220650.html

Today’s Information website https://www.etilaatroz.com/68181/thousands-displaced-people-who-dont-know-where-go/

Minority Rights Group International, Profile of Hazaras https://minorityrights.org/minorities/hazaras/

BBC News, October 21, 2017 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41699320

Radio Free Europe, Frud Bezhan, April 5, 2020 https://www.rferl.org/a/living-scared-in-kabul-s-shi-ite-enclave-hazara-fear-a-taliban-return/30532478.html

Time Magazine, Sophia Jones, May 19, 2020 https://time.com/5838762/afghan-maternity-ward-attack-women/

USAID, Peter Giampaoli, January 2010 https://www.land-links.org/issue-brief/land-tenure-and-property-rights-in-afghanistan/

Hindustan Times, December 5, 2015 https://www.hindustantimes.com/world/slaughtered-like-sheep-afghan-hazaras-journey-via-death-road/story-g5DE7HvxmfFuPLDcJ6f2oM.html

Landinfo, 2017 https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/5ae1ea974.pdf

First Post “Islamic State's killings of Hazaras in Balochistan show persecution of community in Pakistan continues unabated” https://www.firstpost.com/world/islamic-states-killings-of-hazaras-in-balochistan-show-persecution-of-community-in-pakistan-continues-unabated-9168961.html

BBC “Pakistan coal miners kidnapped and killed in IS attack”. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55522830