14.09.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Relations and conflicts between Shi'a, Sunnis and Hazaras ("International Religious Freedom Report 2007") [ID 21662]

"Relations between the different branches of Islam continued to be difficult. Historically, the minority Shi'a faced discrimination from the Sunni population. However, since Shi'a representation has increased in government, there was a decrease in hostility from Sunnis. Most Shi'a were members of the Hazara ethnic group, which traditionally has been segregated from the rest of society for a combination of political, ethnic, and religious reasons. Throughout the country's history, there have been many examples of conflicts between the Hazaras and other citizens. The Hazaras accused the Afghan government, led by a Pashtun President, of providing preferential treatment to Pashtuns and of ignoring minorities, especially Hazaras. Hazaras have reported being asked to pay additional bribes at Afghan border crossings where Pashtuns were allowed to pass freely. These conflicts often have had economic and political roots but also have religious dimensions. The government has made some public overtures to quell historical tensions affecting the Hazara community. In January 2007 it banned the Bollywood film Kabul Express, in which actors spoke several lines that were offensive to Afghanistan's Hazara community, characterizing the film as "anti-Afghan.""

Document(s): Open document

26.08.2004 - Source: ReliefWeb

Pakistan: All 5,000 residents of Bassu camp, members of the minority Hazara ethnic group, decided to repatriate to Afghanistan ("Pakistan border camp closes; all Afghan residents return home (UNHCR)") [#25152],  [ID 1163]

Document(s): Open document

28.06.2004 - Source: ReliefWeb

Uruzgan province: most of the 16 people killed in a bloody attack by suspected Taliban were recently returned refugees ("Most of the 16 killed by suspected Taliban were Afghan refugees (AFP)") [#23640],  [ID 1164]

"Most of the 16 people killed in a bloody attack in south-central Afghanistan by suspected Taliban were recently returned refugees, the government said Monday.
The group was pulled from their vehicle in Uruzgan province on Friday and shot dead, apparently for carrying voter registration cards, according to a local official.
"Most of the 16 were Hazara people," Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Marshal told AFP on Monday. "They had recently returned from Iran."
"Most of them had registration cards and some of them were due to get registration cards and participate in the elections."
Uruzgan has a small ethnic Hazara population but is mainly ethnic Pashtun [...]"

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14.04.2004 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Haji Mohammad Mohaqeq, a well-known Hazara commander, is running for president ("Challenger Enters Presidential Race") [#21297],  [ID 1165]

"Haji Mohammad Mohaqeq, a well-known Hazara commander who served as Karzai’s planning minister until he was summarily dismissed last month, has announced that he is running for president.
Mohaqeq promised to wage a vigorous, nationwide campaign despite alleged threats to his life.
A well-known commander who resisted the Taleban in the late Nineties, Mohaqeq, 47, is a key leader of Hizb-e-Wahdat, the main faction of the Hazara ethnic minority, who live mostly in central Afghanistan and unlike most Afghans are Shia Muslims.
If Mohaqeq hopes to attract voters beyond his ethnic following, he will first have to refute allegations about the role he played as a Hizb-e-Wahdat commander during the incessant fighting between various Afghan factions in Kabul in the first half of the Nineties – including accusations that his troops used particularly brutal techniques to kill prisoners.
The Kabul daily newspaper Farda recently published a cartoon showing Mohaqeq at a podium saying that if elected, he would not only bring democracy to the country but also restore such practices as "making the dead dance" and "nailing". The cartoon is a reference to the “dance of the dead", where enemy soldiers were decapitated and their necks sealed up so that their headless bodies moved about while still standing. “Nailing” involved pinning enemy combatants to a wall using nails.
Both practices were reportedly a speciality of Hizb-e-Wahdat troops, although other factions such as Jamiat-e-Islami and General Abdul Rashid Dostum’s forces have also been accused of great brutality during the years of fighting in the capital.
Mohaqeq says the cartoon is an insult to the Hazara people, and an example of the ethnic hatred directed against them. "It is against all the Hazara," he said. "They only [used] me as symbol," he said, denying that he had any part in atrocities. [...]
Although Mohaqeq has a large following, few observers believe he will attract sufficient support to be elected. Mohammad Mosa Marofi, a law professor at Kabul university and a former member of the constitutional commission, said most people are unable to forget Mohaqeq’s bloody past. [...]"

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16.03.2004 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

As many as 2,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Mazar-e-Sharif to voice their opposition to the removal of Haji Mohammad Mohaqeq as Afghanistan’s planning minister ("Street Protests After Minister’s Removal") [#20468],  [ID 1167]

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01.03.2004 - Source: Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe

Brief update on situation of Hazara ("Afghanistan - Update über die Entwicklungen bis Februar 2004 (Author: Michael Kirschner)") [#20596],  [ID 1168]

Hazara returning to Kabul have been target of violence and criminality, with police ignoring complaints; in January 2004 Hazara were attacked and killed in Baghlan. Planning Minister Mohaqiq announced his candidacy for presidency.

"Hazara, von den viele im Westen Kabuls leben, wurden bei ihrer Rückkehr Ziel von Gewalt und Kriminalität seitens anderer ethnischer Gruppen. Die lokale Polizei ging Anzeigen nicht nach. Im Januar 2004 wurde eine Gruppe von Hazara bei Baghran überfallen und erschossen. Im Januar verkündete der schiitische Hazara-Führer und Planungsminister in der Übergangsregierung, Mohammad Mohaqiq, seine Präsidentschaftskandidatur an. Damit will er zeigen, dass es kein Verbrechen mehr ist, Hazara in Afghanistan zu sein."

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03.2004 - Source: British Agencies Afghanistan Group

Planning Minister Haji Mohammed Mohaqiq leaves government on 8th March ("BAAG Afghanistan Monthly Review; March 2004") [#26397],  [ID 1166]

"The departure of the Planning Minister, Haji Mohammed Mohaqiq, from the government on 8th March may create a rift between radical elements within the Hazara party, Hisb-e-Wahdat and others. It would appear that Mr Muhaqiq, who is a senior commander of Hisb-e-Wahdat in Mazar-i-Sharif, walked out of a cabinet meeting, expressing his anger over a plan to transfer some of his powers to Ashraf Ghani, the Finance Minister. This hasty departure was officially deemed by Hamid Karzai to be a resignation from the cabinet. Mr Muhaqiq subsequently disputed that he had resigned and claimed that he had been illegally dismissed because he had previously announced his candidacy for the position of President. He also levelled charges against those brought in from the Afghan diaspora to take government positions that they were seeking to destroy those who had fought as jihadis against the Soviet occupation. In so doing, he highlighted a significant source of tension within the cabinet. He was replaced by a Western-educated technocrat, Bashir Dosh. The Hazara population continues to be represented by the leader of Hisb-e-Wahdat, Karim Khalili, who is one of the Vice- Presidents."

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07.01.2004 - Source: ReliefWeb

Helmand province: 12 ethnic minority Hazaras killed by unidentified gunmen in the latest spate of violence in the region ("Gunmen kill 12 minority Hazaras in Afghanistan (Reuters)") [#18601],  [ID 1169]

"Unidentified gunmen killed 12 ethnic minority Hazaras in southern Afghanistan in the latest spate of violence in the volatile region, an official said on Wednesday.
The Hazaras were travelling in a vehicle when they came under attack in Baghran district of Helmand province on Tuesday night, said Haji Mohammad Wali, spokesman for the province's governor.

"All together there were 13 Hazara people in the car when the attack happened. Twelve people died on the spot and only one of them survived the incident," Wali told Reuters.

The victims were residents of neighbouring Uruzgan province, where tension has reportedly erupted recently between some Hazaras and ethic Pashtuns, the largest clan of Afghanistan.
[...]"

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31.12.2003 - Source: Minorities at Risk

University of Maryland - Minorities at Risk: Risk Assessment ("Assessment for Hazaras in Afghanistan") [#30494],  [ID 1181]

"Hazara rebellion is unlikely to end in the near future (REB 99-00=6). The Hazara are regionally concentrated and are organizationally highly cohesive after centuries of oppression and discrimination, both factors which point toward continued rebellion. The continued repression by the Taliban regime also encourages rebellion. In addition, so long as the Hazara can count on continued international support from Iran and on the resources of the Northern Alliance, continued rebellion remains feasible. Although attempts have been made to bring the different warring factions of Afghanistan to the table, peace talks have faltered. The Taliban has proven to be virtually impervious to international pressures for a political solution, a not-surprising position given their dominance on the ground in Afghanistan.
The Hazara have been particularly susceptible to Taliban atrocities (refusal of aid shipments to civilians in Bamiyan, mass murders in Mazar-I-Sharif, reports of rampant attacks on civilians during the recapture of Bamiyan City) because of the fundamental religious division between Shi`i Hazaras and the Sunni Taliban. Massacres of Hazara civilians were also reported to have taken place in May 2000 and January 2001. Taliban resentment of the Hazara community is compounded by the defeats that Hizb-i-Wahdat has handed the Taliban militia and by the Hazaras’ links, cultural and political, to Shi`i Iran—a country that poses a significant challenge to the Taliban regime in Kabul. As long as the Taliban regime controls Afghanistan (legitimately or not), the Hazara community will be vulnerable to hostile treatment and repression.
However, if the opposition is able to prevail against the Taliban regime, the Hazara could be in a fortunate position. Under the leadership of Karim Khalili, Hizb-I-Wahdat has proven to be an essential part of the opposition alliance, most notably in efforts to rebuff Taliban advances on Mazar-i-Sharif. If the current opposition were in the position to form a government, one would expect that the Hazara community would be represented within that system. This conclusion rests on the assumption, though, that the alliance will remain cohesive. Several instances of infighting—as well as a long history of tensions--have already demonstrated that this could be a dubious assumption. So even an opposition victory would not necessarily guarantee the well-being of the Hazara population."

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18.11.2003 - Source: Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe

Survey on the situation of return for Hazara to Kabul ("Afghanistan – Sicherheit und Rückkehrsituation für Hazara nach Kabul; Gutachten der SFH-Länderanalyse") [#17825],  [ID 1170]

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07.03.2003 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Members of Hazara community in Kabul district attack police after accusing officers of trying to kidnap a local woman ("Hazara Clash with Police") [#11318],  [ID 1171]

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07.03.2003 - Source: Danish Immigration Service

DIS: According to UNHCR the Hazara are less protected than other groups and more exposed to discrimination ("The Political, Security and Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan: Report on fact-finding mission to Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan and Islamabad, Pakistan; 22 September - 5 October 2002") [#11326],  [ID 1172]

"UNHCR-Kabul believed that the Hazaras have a marginal role in Afghanistan today and that discrimination against the group occurs. According to UNHCR this is a group that is currently managing, but generally speaking the Hazaras are more cautious than other groups, e.g. they do not go out after nightfall in Kabul. UNHCR found that the group is less protected than other groups and is more exposed to discrimination - although, according to the source, it has not been possible to accurately establish the form and extent of such discrimination. The UNHCR also stressed that the Hazaras are not considered to be prima-facie refugees, but that the organization is closely monitoring Hazaras who have been repatriated from Iran and Australia.
The EU's special representative found that there is ongoing discrimination of Hazaras in Afghanistan today. According to the source, the discrimination is in the form of being refused access to high positions and discrimination in terms of access to education. In this context the source pointed out that the Hazaras are not a group who have networks in the neighbouring countries to look after them, but that their networks are limited to Afghanistan, particularly to the province of Bamian.
CCA said that the Hazaras no longer have problems in Afghanistan based on ethnicity, and that in general, the group considered itself to be free.
ACBAR also was of the opinion that the Hazaras do not have problems due to their ethnicity."

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07.03.2003 - Source: Danish Immigration Service

DIS: Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazaras with previous affiliation to the Taliban ("The Political, Security and Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan: Report on fact-finding mission to Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan and Islamabad, Pakistan; 22 September - 5 October 2002") [#11326],  [ID 1173]

"According to the same source, in some areas Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazaras also were affiliated with the Taliban. These people may also experience problems in their original regions depending on their family network. In order to avoid problems, it is necessary to have "insurance" on both sides in relation to family connections and social networks (cf. also section 4.5). The source further pointed out that many former Taliban fighters have now been picked up by and have affiliated with factions of the Northern Alliance, including groupings around Sayyaf."

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31.10.2002 - Source: UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

UNAMA: Returns of ethnic Hazara to Sharestan and Daikundi ("Afghanistan Weekly Situation Report for Relief, Recovery and Reconstruction (25 - 31 October 2002)") [#9491],  [ID 1174]

"Substantial returns of ethnic Hazara continue to Sharestan and Daikundi, where UNAMA has reported human rights violations."

Document(s): Open document
unama_weekly_25_31_october2002.pdf