The Continued Terrors of the Hazara Genocide
Trigger Warning: The following content contains violent descriptions.
On Sunday, January 3rd, 2021, a group of armed men held 11 Hazara Shi’a coal miners at gunpoint, blindfolded, restrained, and trussed them up, and executed them via slitting their throats and shooting at them. All this happened in the early hours of Sunday morning in a mud room within the Mach coal field area of Bolan District, in the Balochistan province of Pakistan where the Hazara men were sleeping. Later, ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), also known as Daesh and followers of the Sunni Islam faith, took responsibility for the attack and the militants who killed the 11 Hazara men.
The victims of Sunday’s attack were recognized by name as Aziz Raza, Mohammad Nazim, Abdul Rahim, Anwar Ali, Sher Mohammad, Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Sadiq, Chaman Ali, Hussain Jan, Asif Ali and Abdullah. They were all residents of the Hazara Town of Quetta and workers of the Mach Town mine. The provincial government of Balochistan revealed that 9 of the victims belonged originally to Afghanistan while they were living in Quetta.
Following the spread of the news, thousands of members of the Hazara community took to the streets and especially a southern highway of Quetta in a sit-in to demand rights, for the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan to bring an end to the persecution and genocide of the ethnic group of the Hazara Community, and for the provincial government to resign since they are unable to provide any security or protection to the community. There, they sit with the bodies of their departed, not allowing them to get buried and forgotten as another genocide attack.
One Hazara Shia political leader there, Syed Agha Raza told Reuters on Tuesday: “We have become tired of picking up the bodies of our people.”
Meanwhile, multiple Pakistani political leaders including PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the PM Imran Khan, Balochistan Rtd Governor Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai, CM Jam Kamal Khan Alyani, Home Minister Ziaullah Langove, Education Minister Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, CM Adviser on Information Bushra Rind have condemned the Mach Hazara Attack via tweets and other means of communication.
The Hazara Community especially in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan has been victim to genocide, discriminatory abuse and attacks, racial injustice, and constant hate from certain Muslim factions that believe that the Hazaras are “kaffirs” (non-believers, infidel, rejector). While some of them believe themselves to be descendents of the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan, others say they have Turk origins and thus truly identifying them from one origin has been difficult. One documentary photographer and author from Pakistan, Amna Zuberi, documented her visit to a Hazara community in April of 2019 and what she found was that “More sons, husbands, fathers, brothers, friends lay buried there than the bereaved they leave behind”, with over 3,000 women widowed and over 10,000 children orphaned. One friend she spoke to even said that he knew “around 80%” of the people from the community who had been buried at the Bihisht-e-Zainab (Hazara graveyard) in Quetta.
As the Hazaras enter their sixth day of the peaceful Quetta sit-in, the members of the community say that if PM Khan visits Quetta, “Respect for him will increase” and he will not be criticised. They say that they are not against the government and that their demands are within the bounds of the currently followed Constitution of Pakistan. Nonetheless, an order has been issued by the Balochistan CM for the removal of the Deputy Commissioner and the District Police Officer of Kachhi from their positions due to negligent operations as of Thursday, January 7th, 2021.
Stay tuned for updates on the Hazara Sit-In and the DC and DPO’s removals with Media Quotient Inc.
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Credit: Reuters/TRT World
