By Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian
Afghanistan is,
regardless of whatever ideological faction rules it, a Sunni
Pashtun-dominated state. As a consequence, the Shia Hazaras,
Afghanistan’s third largest ethnic group, have long been
marginalized.
Living primarily in the country’s centre,
the Hazaras account for some 20 per cent of Afghanistan’s 30
million inhabitants.
The modern Afghan
state was the creation of the Pashtun Amir Abdur Rahman
Khan, who ruled the country between 1880 and 1901and was
determined to foster a state around Pashtuns as the
ethno-cultural core of the country.
He ruthlessly
quelled many rebellions against increased centralized rule.
The most protracted of these was the 1891-1893 Hazara War,
following which the traditional Hazara landholding elites,
known as mirs and begs, were eliminated.
Tens of thousands of Hazaras died. Some
were even sold as slaves. Until recent decades, few attended
university or held government positions.
However, their
homeland was largely spared from Communist rule and the
Soviet occupation that lasted until 1989, so the Hazaras
were able to regain some of the autonomy they had lost under
Rahman.
Following the
collapse of the Soviet-backed regime, the political party
Hezb-e Wahdat was founded in 1989 and was transformed into
the ethnic party of the Hazaras, sometimes co- operating and
sometimes fighting with other ethnic parties during the
1992–1996 civil war that erupted following the
disintegration of the country’s Communist government.
The Hazaras
perceived the Taliban, which came to power in 1996, not just
as a Sunni Islamist movement but as a Pashtun nationalist
force, seeking to restore the historical Pashtun hegemony in
the country.
One of the most brutal events took place in
the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, when thousands of Hazaras
were systematically executed, according to a Human Rights
Watch report.
Although Afghanistan is no longer under
Taliban rule, the Hazaras have also cast
a wary eye on the post-2001 reconstruction initiatives
undertaken by western powers after 9/11.
These projects,
funded by major donors, have been mostly concentrated in the
southern and eastern Pashtun provinces and so are simply
another example of Pashtun hegemony. Yet Hazara provinces
have remained among the most peaceful, despite the growing
Taliban insurgency.
The Hazaras have
taken advantage of the post-2001 political landscape. The
2004 Afghanistan Constitution granted them equal rights, and they have
adapted to the current political system.
The political
settlement following the disputed 2014 Afghanistan election
averted a potential civil war through an ethnic power-sharing
scheme.
President Ashraf Ghani is a Pashtun while
his Tajik rival in the election, Abdullah Abdullah, is now the
Chief Executive, a newly created position.
Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum is an
Uzbek; while Mohammad Mohaqiq, a Hazara who emerged from the Hezb-e Wahdat,
serves as Deputy to the Chief Executive, another new post
created after the election.
In November Mohaqiq traveled to Iran and
praised Shiite warriors who had taken part in the war in Iraq
and Syria against Islamic State fighters.
Of course this whole edifice may come
crashing down. Ghani is deeply unpopular and the coalition
remains shaky. Next year’s presidential elections promise to
be, at the very least, very contentious and perhaps violent.
Ghani may be challenged by the Tajik warlord Atta Muhammad
Noor, the governor of Balkh Province.
Menwhile, the Shia Hazaras remain victims
of extremist Sunni groups. On Oct 20, at least 57 Hazaras were
killed, and 100 wounded, during a suicide blast at the Imam
Zaman Mosque in the Hazara-populated Dasht-e-Barchi
neighbourhood of Kabul.
At least 41 people died
and 84 were wounded on Dec. 28 when attackers set off an
explosion outside a Shia cultural centre in the same area.
In the face of rising attacks against them,
President Ghani has stepped up security measures for Hazara
buildings.
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