Hazara People
Total population ca. 8.5 to 10 million Regions with significant
populations Afghanistan 7,570,000 (est. 22% of total) [1] Pakistan
1,150,000 [2][3] Iran 2,830,000 (including post 1979 war refugees)
[2] Canada 4,330 [4] Languages Persian (Hazaragi and Dari dialects)
Religion Islam (predominantly Shi'a) Related ethnic groups Turkman
peoples, Aimak, Mongols, Oirats, and Uyghurs The Hazāra (Hazaragi:
هزاره) are a Hazaragi-speaking people residing in the central
region of Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. The Hazara are
predominantly Shia Muslims and are the third largest ethnic group
in Afghanistan, comprising 22% of the population. Hazaras can also
be found in large numbers in neighboring Iran and Pakistan,
primarily as refugees, and as diaspora around the world. Their
native homeland is referred to as Hazarajat. Etymology The name of
the Hazara people derives from the Persian word hazār, which means
"thousand". The term originally was used to refer to the Mongol
military unit of 1,000 but was later applied to a distinct group of
people.[5] Origin theories One theory of the origins of the Hazaras
is that they are descended from Mongolians. Other theories are that
they are native to the region or are of mixed origin.[6] At least
partial Mongol descent is difficult to reject, because the Hazaras'
physical attributes and parts of their culture and language
resemble that of the Mongolians. Thus, it is widely accepted that
Hazaras do have Mongolian ancestry, if not being direct male-line
descendants of Genghis Khan, as some Hazaras consider themselves to
be.[7] A Mongol element in the ancestry of the Hazara is supported
by studies in genetic genealogy, which have identified a particular
lineage of the Y-chromosome characteristic of people of Mongolian
descent ("the Y-chromosome of Genghis Khan"). This chromosome is
virtually absent outside the limits of the Mongol Empire except
among the Hazara people, where it reaches its highest frequency
anywhere. About two thirds of the sample Hazara males carry a Y
chromosome from this lineage.[8][9] Additionally, some Hazara
tribes are named after notable Mongol generals, including the Tulai
Khan Hazara named after Tolui, the youngest son of Genghis Khan.
The theories of Mongol descent or partial Mongol descent, are
further strengthened given that the Il-Khanate Mongol rulers,
beginning with Oljeitu, embraced Shia Islam. Today, almost all
Hazaras adhere to Shiism, whereas Afghanistan's other ethnic groups
are mostly Sunni. Another theory proposes that Hazaras are
descendants of the Kushans[10], the ancient dwellers of Afghanistan
famous for constructing the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Proponents of this
view find the location of Hazara homeland and the similarity in the
facial features of the Hazaras and those on the frescoes and
Buddha's statues in Bamiyan suggestive. However, this belief is
vitiated not only by the fact that the Kushans were Indo-European
Tocharians, but also by historical records which mention that in a
particularly bloody battle around Bamiyan, Genghis Khan's grandson,
Mutugen, was killed, and he ordered Bamiyan burnt to the ground in
retribution,[11] renaming it Ma-Obaliq ("Uninhabitable Abode")
while replacing the local population with his armies and settlers.
The third theory maintains that Hazaras are a much more mixed race.
The mixed race theory is not entirely inconsistent with descent
from Mongol military forces since many of the Mongol allies were
from Turkic tribes. According to one version of the mixed origins
theory, Nikudari Mongols settled in eastern Persia and mixed with
the native populations that spoke various Iranian languages.[6]
Another version suggests that Chaghatai Mongols first came from
Central Asia and were followed by other Mongols, Turko-Mongols,
Ilkhanates (that were driven out of Persia), and Timurids all of
whom settled in Hazarajat and mixed with the local Persian
population forming a distinct group.[6] Genetics Genetically, the
Hazara are primarily a mixture of eastern Eurasian[12][13][14][15]
and western Eurasian[12][13][14][15][16] peoples. The genetic
research suggests that they are closely related to the Mongols[17]
and the Uygurs of Western China.[18] History Emergence of the
Hazara In the late 1500s, the first mention of Hazaras are made by
the court historians of Shah Abbas of the Safavid dynasty and by
Babur (Emperor of the Mughal Empire) in his Baburnama, referring to
the people living from west of Kabul to Ghor, and south to
Ghazni.[6] 18th century Elder Hazara manIn their modern history,
Hazaras have faced several wars and forced displacements. Since the
beginnings of modern Afghanistan in the mid 18th century, Hazaras
have faced persecution from the Pashtuns and have been forced to
flee from many parts of today's Afghanistan to Hazarajat.[6] In the
mid 18th century they were forced out of Helmand and the Arghandab
basin of Kandahar.[6] During Dost Mohammad Khan's rule, Hazaras in
Bamiyan and the Hazarajat area were heavily taxed. However, for the
most part they still managed to keep their regional autonomy in
Hazarajat.[6] This would soon change as the new Emir, Abdur Rahman
Khan, was brought to power. Subjugation by Abdur Rahman Khan As the
new Emir, Abdur Rahman set out a goal to bring Hazarajat under his
control. After facing resistance from the Hazaras, he launched
several campaigns in Hazarajat with many atrocities and ethnic
polarization.[6] The southern part of Hazarajat was spared as they
accepted Abdur Rahman's rule while the other parts of Hazarajat
rejected Abdur Rahman and were supporting his uncle Sher Ali Khan
and as a result had a war waged against them.[6] The first Hazara
uprising was in 1888. Abur Rahman's cousin, Mohammad Eshaq,
revolted against him and the Hazaras joined the revolt. The revolt
was short lived and crushed as the Emir extended his control over
large parts of Hazarajat. Heavy taxes were imposed and Pashtun
administrators were sent to Hazarajat where they subjugated the
people with many abuses.[6] The people were disarmed, villages were
looted, local tribal chiefs were imprisoned or executed, and the
best lands were confiscated and given to Pashtun nomads
(Kuchis).[6] Another uprising occurred in 1892. The cause of the
uprising was the rape of the wife of a Hazara chief by 33 Afghan
soldiers. The soldiers had entered their house under the pretext of
searching for weapons and raped the chief's wife in front of
him.[19] The families of the Hazara chief and his wife retaliated
against the humiliation and killed the soldiers and attacked the
local garrison where they took back their weapons. Several other
tribal chiefs who supported Abdur Rahman now turned against him and
joined the rebellion which rapidly spread through the entire
Hazarajat. In response to the rebellion, the Emir declared a
"Jihad" against the Shiites and raised an army of 40,000 soldiers,
10,000 mounted troops, and 100,000 armed civilians (most of which
where Pashtun nomads).[19] He also brought in British military
advisers to assist his army.[19] The large army defeated the
rebellion at its center, in Oruzgan, by 1892 and the local
population was severely massacred. According to S. A. Mousavi, “
thousands of Hazara men, women, and children were moved to Mountian
area from their land & big Cities like Kabul and Qandahar,
while numerous towers of human heads were made from the defeated
rebels as a warning to others who might challenge the rule of the
Amir ” An enslaved Hazara man in Abdur Rahman's court, pleading for
mercy.In response to the harsh repression, the Hazaras revolted
again by early 1893. This revolt had taken the government forces by
surprise and the Hazaras managed to take most of Hazarajat back.
However even after months of fighting, they were eventually
defeated due to a shortage of food. Small pockets of resistance
continued to the end of the year as government troops committed
atrocities against civilians and deported entire villages.[19]
Abdur Rahman's subjugation of the Hazaras during this period gave
birth to strong hatred between the Pashtuns and Hazaras for years
to come.[19] Massive forced displacements, especially in Oruzgan
and Daychopan, continued as lands were confiscated and populations
were expelled or fled.[19] Some 35,000 families fled to northern
Afghanistan, Mashhad (Iran), Quetta (Pakistan), and even as far as
Central Asia. It is estimated that over half the Hazara population
was massacred or displaced during Abdur Rahman's campaign against
them. Hazara farmers were often forced to give up their property to
Pashtuns and as a result many Hazara families had to leave
seasonally to the major cities in Afghanistan, Iran, or Pakistan in
order to find jobs and a source of income. Pakistan is now home to
one of the largest settlements of Hazara particularly in and around
the city of Quetta.[19] Hazaras in the 20th century In 1901,
Habibullah Khan, Abdur Rahman's successor, granted amnesty to all
people who were exiled by his predecessor. However, the division
between the Afghan government and the Hazara people was already
made too deep under Abdur Rahman and as a result Hazaras continued
to face severe social, economic and political discrimination
through most of the 20th century.[6] Mistrust of the central
government continued by the Hazaras and local uprisings also
continued. In particular, in the 1940s, during Zahir Shah's rule, a
revolt took place against new taxes that were exclusively imposed
on the Hazaras.[6] The Pashtun nomads meanwhile not only were
exempted from taxes, but also received allowances from the Afghan
government.[6] The angry rebels began capturing and killing
government officials. In response, the central government sent a
force to subdue the region and later removed the taxes. Soviet
invasion to the Taliban era During the Soviet war in Afghanistan,
the Hazarajat region did not see as much heavy fighting like other
regions of Afghanistan. However, rival Hazara political factions
had internal conflicts during this period. The division was across
the Tanzáim-e nasl-e naw-e Hazara, a party based in Quetta of
Hazara nationalists and secular intellectuals, and the pro-Khomeini
Islamist parties backed by the new Islamic Republic of Iran.[6] By
1979, the Iran backed Islamist groups liberated Hazarajat from the
central Soviet-backed Afghan government and later these Islamist
groups took entire control of Hazarajat away from the secularist
groups. By 1984, after severe fighting, the secularist groups lost
all their power to the Islamist groups. Later as the Soviets
withdrew in 1989, the Islamist groups felt the need to broaden
their political appeal and turned their focus to Hazara ethnic
nationalism.[6] This led to establishment of the Hezb-e Wahdat, an
alliance of all the Hazara resistance groups (except the Harakat-e
Islami). In 1992, with the fall of Kabul, the Harakat-e Islami took
sides with Burhanuddin Rabbani's government while the Hezb-e Wahdat
took sides with the opposition. The Hezb-e Wahdat was eventually
forced out of Kabul by 1995 as the Pashtun Taliban movement
treacherously captured and killed their leader Abdul Ali Mazari.
With the Taliban's capture of Kabul in 1996, all the Hazara groups
united with the new Northern Alliance against the common new enemy.
However, it was too late and despite the fierce resistance
Hazarajat fell to the Taliban by 1998. The Taliban had Hazarajat
totally isolated from the rest of the world going as far as not
allowing the United Nations to deliver food to the provinces of
Bamiyan, Ghor, Wardak, and Ghazni.[20] During the years that
followed, Hazaras suffered severe oppression and many large ethnic
massacres were carried out by the predominately ethnic Pashtun
Taliban and are documented by such groups as the Human Rights
Watch.[21] These human rights abuses not only occurred in
Hazarajat, but across all areas controlled by the Taliban.
Particularly after their capture of Mazar-e Sharif in 1998, where
after a massive killing of some 8000 civilians, the Taliban openly
declared that the Hazaras would be targeted. Mullah Niazi, the
commander of the attack and governor of Mazar after the attack,
similar to Abdur Rahman Khan over 100 years ago, declared the Shia
Hazara as infidels: “ 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.[22] ” Hazaras in
post-Taliban Afghanistan Dr. Sima Samar, an ethnic Hazara,
Chairperson of Independent Human Rights Commission of
AfghanistanFollowing the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United
States, British and American forces attacked Afghanistan and
removed the Taliban from power and effectively saved the Hazaras
from ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Taliban. Since then, the
situation for Hazaras in Afghanistan has changed drastically and
has much improved in a very short time. Today, due to the NATO
involvement, Hazaras enjoy much more freedom and equality than ever
before. Hazaras can now pursue higher education, enroll in the
army, and have top government positions.[23] For example, Haji
Mohammad Mohaqiq, a Hazara from the Hezb-e Wahdat party, was able
to run in the 2004 presidential election in Afghanistan. However,
discrimination still lingers.[23] A clear indication of such
discrimination is the current trend of allocating international
help by the Afghan government. Hazarajat historically has been kept
from any improvement by past governments. Since ousting the
Taliban, there have been several billions of dollars poured into
Afghanistan for reconstruction and numerous mega scale
reconstruction projects took place in Afghanistan. But effectively
a very small portion of international aid was allocated in central
regions of Afghanistan Hazarajat. For example, there have been more
than 5000 kilometers of road pavement and construction in
Afghanistan, of which almost none happened in central Afghanistan
Hazarajat. Another indication of such discrimination is that Kochis
(Afghan nomads from western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan) are
allowed now to use Hazarajat pastures in summer time. This practice
started during the rule of Amir Abdurahman Khan for punishing
Hazaras. Living in mountainous Hazarajat where little farm land
exists, Hazara people rely on these pasture lands for their
livelihood and survival during long and harsh winters. In 2007
heavily armed Kochis moved into Hazarajat for grazing their
livestock, and when the local people resisted, it is reported that
they killed several Hazara people, mostly women and kids, looted
and burned several villages.[citation needed] Such a practice
happened in 2008, and the government appears to approve this
practice by disarming local Hazaras and allowing Kochis to remain
heavily armed.[citation needed] It is also reported that Kochis
acted for the Taliban army when they defeated Hazara resistance
against Taliban in Hazarajat and massacred the local
Hazaras.[citation needed] Hazaras suspect that Kochis have ties
with the Taliban. Kochis like Taliban belong to the Pashtun
ethnicity. Traveling with heavy armor and automatic weapons, and
using military tactics like Taliban, support this theory.[citation
needed] Geographic distribution Diaspora Alessandro Monsutti
argues, in his recent anthropological book[24], that migration is
in fact the traditional way of life of the Hazara people, referring
to the seasonal and historical migrations which have never ceased
and do not seem to be dictated only by emergency situations such as
war.[25] Besides the major populations of Hazaras in Quetta
(Pakistan) where many have achieved considerably high positions
within the government and police force and Iran, there are
significant communities in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the
United States, the United Kingdom and particularly the Northern
European countries such as Sweden and Denmark. Many young Hazara
are studying in developed countries such as Australia, legally
through education or work visas. There are many Afghan Hazara who
have migrated to developed countries especially in Australia as
refugees. The famous case was the MV Tampa incident in which a
shipload of refugees, mostly Hazaras, was rescued by the Norwegian
freighter MV Tampa and subsequently sent to Nauru.[26] Many refugee
claims were rejected by Australia and forwarded to New Zealand,
where all claims but one were approved. Hazaras in Pakistan Hazara
refugees from Afghanistan in Quetta and Peshawar Pakistan, along
with their Pakistani Hazara(native, 3rd and 4th generation)
brethren, have set up a remittance economy which has led to the
opening of foreign money exchange places to handle the currency
coming in. In Pakistan most of the Hazaras live in and around the
city of Quetta and hold high positions in the government of
Balochistan, the federal government, and the Police force. In
Pakistan, Hazaras are mostly in business and have high education
levels. They are integrated into the local social dynamics of the
respective areas they have setled into and operated several
successful trades and business. Hazaras are also politically active
in Quetta and have a political party known as the Hazara Democratic
Party. Other notable Hazara settlements can be found in Karachi,
Lahore and more recently in Multan.[27] The current Minister of
Sports in Balochistan is a Hazara. The most famous Hazara in
Pakistan was General Musa Khan, who served as Commander in Chief of
the Pakistani Army between 1958 to 1966. Culture The Hazara,
outside of Hazarajat, have adopted the cultures of the cities where
they dwell, and in many cases are quite Persianized. Traditionally
the Hazara are highland farmers and although sedentary like the
Tajiks, in the Hazarajat, they have retained many of their own
customs and traditions, some of which are more closely related to
those of Central Asia than to Iran.[28][29][15] For instance, many
Hazara musicians are widely hailed as being skilled in playing the
dambura, a lute instrument similarly found in other Central Asian
nations such as Uzbekistan and Mongolia. Interestingly, a skilled
Hazara dambura musician, Dawood Sarkhosh sang a notably traditional
Hazara folk song entitled, "Moghul Dokhtar," Persian for "Mongol
Girl."[30] Language Main article: Hazaragi Hazaras often speak
Hazaragi which is a distinctive variety of the Persian language. It
is closer to the Persian spoken in Afghanistan than to that spoken
in Iran.[31] The differences include a distinctive accent[32] and a
significant number of words of Mongolian and Turkic origin.[33][31]
In particular, Hazaragi in the DaiKundi and Dhaizangi (also spelled
as Daizangi) regions has a significant admixture of Mongolian
influence in the language. Many of the urban Hazaras in the larger
cities such as Kabul and Mazari Sharif no longer speak Hazaragi but
speak Kaboli or regional varieties of Dari Persian, and in western
region of Herat speak in the Khorasani dialect. Hazaras in Quetta,
Pakistan often include Urdu and English words as part of their
language, which they adopted since 1890 when they served in the
British Indian Army in regiments such as the 106th Hazara
Pioneers.[34][35] Religion Hazaras are predominantly Shi'a Muslims,
mostly of the Twelver sect.[34] Most of Afghanistan are not of the
Twelver Shi'a denomination and this fact has probably contributed
to the discrimination against the Hazaras.[5] Some Hazaras are also
Shi'as of the Ismaili denomination. Hazaras probably converted from
Sunnism to Shi'aism during the reign of the Il-Khanate ruler
Oljeitu. Nonetheless, a small number of Hazaras are Sunni,[5]
primarily among the Taymani Hazara and the Hazara Aimaks.[36]
Hazara tribes Main article: List of Hazara tribes The Hazara people
have been organized by various tribes. However more recently and
since the inclusion of the Hazaras into the "Afghan state", the
tribal affiliations have been disappearing and former tribal names
(e.g. Besudh, Daykundi, or Jaghori) today more commonly refer to
territorial designations.[37] Sports Rohullah Nikpai The
21-year-old Nikpai won a bronze medal in taekwondo in the Beijing
Olympics, beating world champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain 4-1 in
a play-off final. It was Afghanistan's first-ever Olympics medal.
Omid Jafari Chair Person Of Hazara Society, UK
