Introduction:

• Despite the Taliban promising a new era of “amnesty”, peace and security, the terrorist group’s actions since their swift ascent to power has left thousands of ordinary Afghans, particularly ethnic minorities like the Hazaras, scrambling to escape a potentially brutal and repressive regime.
• The Hazaras have long faced violent persecution from the Taliban and Islamic State for their ethnicity and religious beliefs.

Who are the Hazaras?

• The Hazaras are an ethnic and religious minority group largely found in the rugged and mountainous central Afghan region of Hazarajat.
• They are believed to be descendants of the founder of the Mongol empire, Genghis Khan, and his army that overran the entire region during the 13th century.
• They are targetted by the Taliban because they are primarily Shia Muslims, as opposed to most Afghans who follow the Sunni branch of Islam.
• Their distinct Asiatic features and use of a Persian dialect called Hazaragi also sets them apart from the rest of the country.
• The Hazaras are one of Afghanistan’s largest ethnic minorities, accounting for about 10-12 per cent of the country’s 38-million strong population.
• But they were once even larger, constituting approximately 67 per cent of Afghanistan’s total population. Since then, primarily due to violence, oppression and targeted massacres, that number has come down drastically.
• During the country’s civil war in the 1990s and the Taliban’s first reign of terror in Afghanistan, thousands of Hazara people were massacred.
• But even after the US invaded Afghanistan and ended the Taliban’s rule in 2001, atrocities against the ethnic minority group continued.
• 2004 Afghanistan constitution granted them equal rights and they were even well-represented in the Afghan administration, the Hazaras have been historically denied the freedoms and rights enjoyed by other ethnic groups in the country.
• Areas such as Bamiyan, which are primarily occupied by this ethnic group, are some of the country’s most backward — often lacking basic facilities such as running water and power.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-who-are-hazaras-of-afghanistan-taliban-7461859/

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