Hazara International Network:
Dear Respected Sirs,
First of all, we are very fortunate to have the opportunity to write you this letter, about the situation of the Hazaras, a long-oppressed ethnic group in Afghanistan and Pakistan which is considered by some international human rights organizations as the most persecuted people on earth.
Hazara International Network abbreviated as HIN is writing you this letter to you, on behalf of millions of Hazaras within Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Iran as well as elsewhere in the world where they’ve been settled for survival escaping discriminations, genocides, ethnic cleansing, target killings, slavery and forced displacements in their own country.
As a matter of fact, the aborigines of Afghanistan, “the Hazaras” make the biggest Diaspora out of their country; therefore they are found in all continents of the world, which testifies their long history of suffering and refuge seeking for what they’ve faced at home through the history.
It’s very simple to understand why the Hazaras are being targeted and killed massively by the fundamentalist terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Not only their facial difference distinguishes them from the other citizens of Afghanistan, but also their way of living, thinking about life, politics, society, education and human rights make them different from other ethnic groups, and vulnerable in Afghanistan.
Their progressive thoughts and their prospective of democracy and progress for a new Afghanistan make them a strong barrier against religious fundamentalism and dark terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan; therefore the terrorist groups such as Taliban repeatedly target and kill the Hazaras just to clear their way. They consider the Hazaras infidels, because the Hazaras respect many values of modern humanism such as equality between men and women, women’s right of education, social participation in decision makings, political activism for the mass etc which is in contrary with Talibanism. These qualities make the Hazaras very similar to the western societies. All these values are barriers against expansion of fundamentalism and Talibanic darkism. With an idea and hope of having a peaceful utopia, in the actual world, the Hazaras are located, it is in the middle of extremists, so they are threatened from different sides; therefore they pay a high price of sacrifices for their existence.
The Hazaras, as the most open-minded and democratic society in Afghanistan and Pakistan, have a very high rate of literacy and education level, especially they pay a particular attention to women and children education, thus they are being constantly considered threats to the fundamentalist groups such as Taliban and Da’esh who belong to the dark eras and are afraid of enlightened and educated societies and groups.
And since the Hazaras are being easily recognizable, their movement from one province to the other is a real threat for them that even cost their lives.
Stop Hazara Killings in Afghanistan!
The Hazara killings in Afghanistan include their abductions when they move from one province to the other, target killings with direct gun firing, and their massive killing by kamikaze blasts.
The most recent and the worst Hazara killing took place in Kabul on July 23rd 2016 by a couple of kamikaze blasts against demonstrators in which about 100 persons were killed and some 350 others remained wounded. These demonstrators were seeking justice and equality for all citizens of Afghanistan. They belonged to a newly formed Movement, called Enlightening Movement or Enlightenment Movement. The Afghan government itself is suspected to have hands behind this blast to decompose the movement; therefore many people call the UN to help conduction of an overall investigation on this blast. Most of the victims of Kabul July 23rd blast were highly educated, at least with a bachelor or a master degree.
Before this killing, the other cruellest Hazara killing took place in November 2015, when the Taliban terrorists had first abducted then beheaded 11 civilian Hazara passengers including a 9 years old child Tabassom. This brutally target killing brought millions of Afghanistani citizens on the roads to demonstrate against the terrorists and as well as the Afghan Government that did not save the lives of those Hazara citizens. The Afghan Government, instead of fulfilling its responsibilities, censored the demonstrators by blocking their ways with huge metal containers.
And prior to this tragic event, other 31 Hazara passengers were being abducted by the terrorists in February 2015 some of whom were then released after the pressure of demonstrators and the international community but the rest were all killed.
These events continue as the ways to Hazara inhabited provinces are all in the hand of the Taliban and other terrorist groups and the Afghan Government does not seem to do something about it.
Stop Racial Discrimination against Hazaras in Afghanistan!
In the last one and half a decade, since the fall of the Taliban regime, the Hazaras who had just been through their third historical genocide conducted by the Taliban, thought they would have the chance to a relatively relaxing period in peace and live out of fear of tortures, persecutions and ethnic cleansing when the Taliban were gone, but it was just a wrong imagination for them.
In these years, despite all challenges and difficulties, they have proved to be the main supporters of democracy, stability and reconstruction in Afghanistan. They contributed in the legitimization process of newly formed governments, by participating in millions in the elections, though at the end of the day their share of power and foreign aids to Afghanistan has always been very low.
The Hazaras with an estimated population of more than seven million people in all over the world, make at least 20 % of the population of Afghanistan as the third largest ethnic group after Pashtuns and Tajiks which means based on Bonn Conference of 2001 on Afghanistan, that gave a start to the new era of Afghanistan, the Hazaras should have given at least 20% of political power share, as well as the same percentage of foreign aids to Afghanistan should be allocated to these people. So it means the same percentage of the national development budget should be allocated to their areas, but unfortunately because of systematic racial discrimination and corruption in Afghanistan they are not given even 2% of their power and resource shares. Most of Hazara inhabited provinces are totally dark at night, because they do not have electricity.
Most of Hazara students attend schools in very bad conditions. The Hazara inhabited areas need schools, their existing schools do not have buildings and furniture and most of them study under tree shades or in tents even in cold weather of chilly winters of Hazarajat. There are very limited numbers of hospitals in Hazara provinces, there are no constructed roads in Hazaras’ lands and their recruitment in the governmental offices is very limited, all because of racial discrimination against them and existing corruption in Afghanistan.
Since 2002, the International Community has helped at least more than one 100 billion dollars as international aids to Afghanistan, out of which the Hazaras that make 20% of the population did not receive even 2% of it, which means they are very badly being ignored and discriminated against.
Enlightening Movement/Enlightenment Movement
Recently, after the hugest ever discriminatory plan against the Hazaras were implemented on TUTAP imported power plant, the Hazaras formed one of the biggest peaceful rights-seeking movement in the history of Afghanistan that was named Enlightening Movement.
The TUTAP power plant was originally suggested by international consultants to pass through Bamyan that is a Hazara living province because it was economically more convenient and safer for the project, but then, this route was changed by the Afghan Government from Bamyan to Salang Pass in the north and left the Hazaras again deprived of electricity power for at least another couple of decades.
The Enlightening Movement was formed to bring TUTAP project back to its original plan; this movement is actually made of thirst of people for justice, equality, peace, brotherhood and long term stability in Afghanistan. The movement had two historical demonstrations in Kabul with the presence of hundreds of thousands of people, and hundreds of protests worldwide.
One of the biggest demonstrations of the Enlightening Movement was targeted in Kabul on July 23rd of this year in which about 100 persons were killed and around 350 were wounded.
On the day of the demonstration the Afghan Governmental forces had blocked all the ways by huge metal containers so that the demonstrators would be blocked all in one point when the blast was about to take place. This makes it very suspicious and the survivors of the attack believe that the Afghan Government is behind the blast to stop the rapid advancement Enlightening Movement throughout the country. Minutes before the blasts, the police forces had evacuated the area silently. On that day, no media was allowed to cover the event, so the government officials did not want to leave a trace and short after the blast, the evidences were cleaned very quickly in order not to leave proves of governmental involvement in the blast.
Our Requests from the European Council and the European Commission
The European Union, based on its important role in helping the war torn countries of the world, has obviously played an important role in the reconstruction of post-conflict Afghanistan. The European Union Member States have given a lot of sacrifices in the war against terrorism in Afghanistan, to help the population of Afghanistan bring peace, democracy and stability for them, and for this the Hazara people are grateful to the European Union and we have some requests from the European Council, Council for the European Union and the European Commission, which come as below;
1- Thanking the European Union for its generosity in helping with the reconstruction of Afghanistan we would kindly request the European Council members to continue their highly valuable mission of supporting Afghanistan while at the same time, we emphasize that the European Council members would make the Afghan Government Officials more accountable for every penny of the foreign aid they receive by the European Union, so that to guarantee they are spent without bias and racial discrimination against any particular ethnics of Afghanistan.
2- We would request the European Council and the European Commission honourable members, not to sign the refugee deportation accords with the Afghan Government, because the Afghan Government is not yet capable to guarantee the safety of failed asylum seekers in Europe who are to be deported back to Afghanistan. In this critical period of time, there will be a tragedy, if these asylum seekers would be deported back to Afghanistan, because they might be killed by the Taliban terrorists or the newly proclaimed Da’esh terrorists. So, please stop the deportation process and please do not sign any accords until the situation of Afghanistan gets a little bit better.
3- We would request the European Council and the European Commission honourable members, to condition the allocation of future foreign aids to Afghanistan, on transparency and accountability, because in the current government cabinet and other high levels of the government, there are still ministers and senior officials who are accused of a high rate of corruption and money laundry during their mandate in the previous governments, while they are still working without being trialled or questioned for their previous accusations.
4- We would request the European Council and the European Commission honourable members, to ask the Afghan Government, guarantee the safety, freedom and the rights of the other ethnic and religious minority groups in Afghanistan, such as; Hindus, Sikhs, Nuristanis, Pashayis, Aimaqs, Turkmens, Balochs and others who have always been the subject of discrimination the same as the indigene Hazaras.
5- We are expecting the European Council and the European Commission to support Enlightening Movement of Afghanistan that is one of the biggest civil rights-seeking and justice-seeking movements in the whole region in the recent years. This Movement is even compared to the Civil Rights Movements of The Afro-Americans during the1960s in the United States of America for its size and approaches of peaceful protests nationwide and globally.
6- We hope and wish that the European Council and the European Commission honourable members officially announce their support to the Enlightening Movement of Afghanistan through the hashtag #Justice4Hazaras while we would suggest the respected members, the viewing of the Enlightenment website which is dedicated to the victims of the July 23rd Kabul Blast on Hazara demonstrators. www.enlightenment723.com
7- We request the European Council and the European Commission honourable members, to support the conduction of an international thorough investigation under the UNAMA supervision, on July 23rd blast on Hazara demonstrators in Kabul in which more than 400 families remained mournful.
8- And finally we request the European Council and the European Commission honourable members to allocate a specific percentage of the EU aids to Afghanistan annually for the Hazarajat or the poorest provinces of Afghanistan mainly inhabited by the Hazara natives that have been discriminated drastically, within the last fifteen years. These provinces have historically been deprived of their basic rights. They need schools; they need hospitals, electricity and asphalted roads.
9- Believing that the main cure for the everlasting stability and peace in Afghanistan is justice, equality and brightness of education, Hazara International Network takes an oath once again to continue its mission of struggling against blind racism and injustice through fair and on time journalism, spreading just and correct information and defending the basic rights of all citizens of Afghanistan, based on equality, fairness and respect that is guaranteed in the constitution of Afghanistan.
10- Members, Journalists and the supporters of Hazara International Network will be present in the demonstration in Brussels against inequality, corruption and injustice in Afghanistan during the International Conference on Afghanistan on October 5th 2016.
Viva Peace, Justice, Equality and Electricity for all!
Hazara International Network-HIN
Venice-Italy
03/10/2016
www.hazarapeople.com
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