Five Public Opinions

I’ve added a new entry to my blogroll: HaZaRa NaTiOn, authored by a Hazara living in Australia.

The Hazaras are the third-largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, and for centuries have been the targets of violence, persecution and discrimination at the hands of their neighbours, in no small part because of their Shia affiliation (but also because of their physical and linguistic differences). The Taliban governor of Mazar-i-Sharif declared in 1997:

Hazaras are not Muslim, they are Shi’a. They are kofr [infidels]. The Hazaras killed our force here, and now we have to kill Hazaras. [. . .] If you do not show your loyalty, we will burn your houses, and we will kill you. You either accept to be Muslims or leave Afghanistan. [. . .] wherever you go we will catch you. If you go up, we will pull you down by your feet; if you hide below, we will pull you up by your hair. Read the rest of this entry »