Azaranica is a non-biased news aggregator on Hazaras. The main aim is to promote understanding and respect for cultural identities by highlighting the realities they face on daily basis...Hazaras have been the victim of active persecution and discrimination and one of the reasons among many has been the lack of information, awareness, and disinformation.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Some Kabul themes


................Chances are that, even if you stay in Kabul for no more than a couple of days, you will run into a Hazara Shia who will ask you to explain why members of his community are being killed in Quetta.

Ms F, in her early twenties, wears a very serious expression on her innocent-looking face. An erstwhile resident of Quetta, she is now a refugee in Australia and is in Kabul these days for one of those international conferences on Afghanistan’s affairs that seem to be taking place all the time and getting nowhere. She cannot take her mind off the wave of violence against the Hazara Shia in Balochistan that has not only claimed hundreds of lives in the past few years but has also paralysed the whole community.

Mr Asim is a young professional engaged in humanitarian work and, judging from his confident manner and the model of his car, quite well-off. After a couple of questions about the overall situation in Pakistan he wants to know why its government cannot adopt an effective plan to stop the targeted killing of the Hazara Shia.

Both he and Ms F do not blame the authorities alone; they also criticise civil society’s failure to defend Balochistan’s Hazara Shia. They do not think the Hazaras in Afghanistan have much influence with their government but Pakistani policymakers should not dismiss the possibility that the killing of Hazara Shia in Balochistan and the near closure of educational and economic opportunities on them could also contribute to strains on Islamabad-Kabul relations in the days to come..........Continue Reading...

Monday, December 17, 2012

کوئٹہ کے ہزارہ ’پراکسی وار‘ کا شکار؟


احمد ولی مجیب

بی بی سی نیوز، کوئٹہ


آخری وقت اشاعت: پير 17 دسمبر 2012 ,



گزشتہ ساڑھے چار سال میں ہزارہ برادری کے پانچ سو سے زائد افراد کو قتل کیا جا چکا ہے

وادئ کوئٹہ کے مشرقی حصے میں پہاڑ کے دامن میں واقع قبرستان میں ایک نئی قبر پر خواتین اور بچے بلک بلک کر رو رہے تھے۔ یہ چار نومبر کو عسکری پارک کے قریب دہشت گردوں کی فائرنگ سے ہلاک ہونے والے اشفاق حسین کی قبر تھی اور وہاں جمع ہونے والے اشفاق حسین کےعزیز و اقارب میں سے کچھ تو اپنا دکھ آنکھوں کی نمی میں سمیٹے ہوئے تھے مگر اکثر کے ضبط کا بندھن ٹوٹ گیا تھا اور وہ بین کرتے نظر آئے۔

جب میں نے قبرستان میں موجود اشفاق حسین کے بڑے بھائی آفتاب حسین سے واقعے کی تفصیل جاننے کی کوشش کی تو انہیوں نے کہا کہ میرا ایک اور بھائی الطاف حسین بھی اس واقعے میں شدید زخمی ہوا ہے۔

ایسا نہ ہو کہ آپ کی رپورٹ کی اشاعت سے زخمی بھائی کو اشفاق کی ہلاکت کا علم ہو جائے۔ میرے اصرار پر بھیگی آنکھیں لیے آفتاب نے بس یہ کہا کہ ’ہمیں نہیں معلوم ہمارا قتل عام کیوں کیا جا رہا ہے۔ ہم تو سب کے ساتھ بھائیوں کی طرح رہتے ہیں۔ میرے بھائیوں کی کسی سے کوئی دشمنی بھی نہیں تھی‘۔

یہ دل سوز منظر دیکھ کر ہم قبرستان سے نکلے ہی تھے کہ آفتاب کا پیغام ملا کہ ان کے دوسرے بھائی الطاف حسین بھی چل بسے ہیں۔

یوں مری آباد کے اس تاریخی قبرستان میں ایک نئی قبر کا اضافہ ہوگیا- میں کوئٹہ میں چار دن رہا اور ہر روز ٹارگٹ کلنگ کے واقعات ہوتے رہے، نئی قبریں بنتی رہیں اور پتہ نہیں کب تک بنتی رہیں گی۔

ایسا لگتا ہے بلوچستان کا دارالحکومت کوئٹہ ہزارہ برادی کا مقتل بن چکا ہے۔گزشتہ ساڑھے چار سال میں ہزارہ برادری کے پانچ سو سے زائد افراد کو قتل کیا جا چکا ہے اور تین ہزار سے زائد ہزارہ نوجوان بوڑھے اور بچے دہشت گردوں کے حملوں میں زخمی ہو چکے ہیں۔

اس کے علاوہ ایک ہزار سے زائد ایسے نوجوان بھی ہیں جوحالات سے تنگ آ کریورپ ہجرت کرنے کی کوششوں میں راستے میں جانوں سے ہاتھ دھو چکے ہیں۔

ہزارہ طلباء سہمے اور خوف زدہ ہیں۔ کشیدہ صورت حال نے بہت سے طالب علموں کو تعلیم کو خیرباد کہنے پر مجبور کردیا ہے۔

چودہ جون کو جناح ٹاؤن میں ہونے والے دھماکے میں زخمی ہونے والے طالب علم وقار حسین نے بتایا کہ ’جب ہماری بس کے قریب دھماکہ ہوا تو مجھے لگا کہ اب ہمارے ساتھ بھی مستونگ والا واقعہ پیش آنے والا ہے۔‘(مستونگ میں شعیہ زائرین کو بس سے اتار کر قتل کیا گیا تھا)

"ڈاکٹرز، انجینیئرز، کھلاڑی اور طالب علم جو بھی نظر آتا ہے بس اسے مار دیا جاتا ہے۔ ہزارہ تاجروں کو اغوا کیا جاتا ہے اور انہیں طرح طرح سے ہراساں کیا جاتا ہے۔ کاروباری علاقوں سے ہزارہ برادری کو بے دخل بھی کیا جارہا ہے۔۔۔یہ خالصتاّ مسلکی اور فرقے کی بنیادوں پر قتل عام ہے، اسے نسلی رنگ دینا غلط ہوگا۔"


عبدالخالق ہزارہ

وقار کے مطابق ایسے خوف کے ماحول میں تعلیم جاری رکھنا کیسے ممکن ہے۔ ’ہماری چھوٹی چھوٹی آنکھیں دیکھ کر ہمیں نشانہ بنایا جاتا ہے‘۔ وقار جب اس واقعے کی تفصیلات بتارہا تھا اس کی آنکھوں میں خوف صاف نظرآرہا تھا۔

کوئٹہ کی بڑی جامعات میں جہاں پہلے ہزارہ طلبا ءکی اچھی خاصی تعداد ہوا کرتی تھی اب وہ خال خال نظر آتے ہیں۔ ایک طرف تو ہزارہ برادری کے خلاف تشدد کا سلسلہ رکنے میں نہیں آرہا اور دوسری طرف صوبہ میں سرکار کہیں نظر نہیں آتی۔

جب صورتحال پر موقف جاننے کے لیے صوبائی پولیس کے ترجمان حامد شکیل سے رابطہ کیا تو وہ پولیس نفری کی کمی کا رونا روتے نظر آئے۔ اس سوال کا جواب کسی کے پاس نہیں تھا کے کوئٹہ شہر میں پولیس اور ایف سی کی موجودگی میں دہشت گرد کارروائی کر کے اطیمنان سے پیدل کیسے فرار ہو جاتے ہیں؟

ہزارہ ڈیموکریٹک پارٹی کے سربراہ عبدالخالق ہزارہ کے مطابق گزشتہ دس برس سے ہزارہ برادری سے تعلق رکھنے والے افراد کو چُن چُن کے مارا جا رہا ہے۔

ان کے مطابق ’ڈاکٹرز، انجینیئرز، کھلاڑی اور طالب علم جو بھی نظر آتا ہے بس اسے مار دیا جاتا ہے۔ ہزارہ تاجروں کو اغوا کیا جاتا ہے اور انہیں طرح طرح سے ہراساں کیا جاتا ہے۔ کاروباری علاقوں سے ہزارہ برادری کو بے دخل بھی کیا جارہا ہے‘۔

تین ہزار سے زائد ہزارہ نوجوان بوڑھے اور بچے دہشت گردوں کے حملوں میں زخمی ہو چکے ہیں

عبد الخالق کا کہنا تھا کہ ہزارہ برادری کونا صرف جان سے مارا جارہا ہے بلکہ ان کا معاشرتی، معاشی اور تعلیمی قتل عام بھی کیا جارہا ہے اور سرکار خاموش تماشائی بنی ہوئی ہے۔

انہوں نے الزام عائد کیا کہ ’ایران اور سعودی عرب کی دشمنی کا بدلہ ہزارہ برادری سے لیا جا رہا ہے‘۔

تاثر یہ ہے کہ ہزارہ برادری دونوں ملکوں کے درمیان پراکسی وار کا شکار ہو رہی ہے۔ عبدالخالق کے مطابق اس جمہوری دور میں تو تشدّد کی حد ہوگئی ہے- ان کا کہنا تھا کہ ’یہ خالصتاّ مسلکی اور فرقے کی بنیادوں پر قتل عام ہے، اسے نسلی رنگ دینا غلط ہوگا‘۔

وادی کوئٹہ کے مشرقی دامن مری آباد اور مغربی علاقے ہزارہ ٹاؤن میں رہنے والے ہزاروں کی آبادی پانچ لاکھ سے زائد بتائی جاتی ہے اور شہر میں دہائیوں سے آباد ان ہزاروں کو اب ان کے علاقوں تک ہی محدود کر دیا گیا ہے۔

کالعدم لشکر جھنگوی ہزارہ برادری کے خلاف ہونے والے اکثر واقعات کی ذمہ داری قبول کرتا ہے اور ہر واقعے کے بعد مزید کارروائیوں کی دھمکی بھی دی جاتی ہے لیکن پنجاب میں بننے والا لشکر جھنگوی بلوچوں میں کیسے مقبول اور موثر 
ہوگیا اس سوال کا جواب کسی کے پاس نہیں۔

Public Relations official, two policemen shot dead in Quetta

By: AFP | December 17, 2012



Gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead a government official and two police officers in Quetta on Monday, police said.

"The assailants shot dead Khadim Hussain Noori, director of the public relations department of Baluchistan provincial government," city police chief Wali Khan Nasir told AFP.

Noori had been parking his car when he was shot, he added.

The 56-year-old civil servant was a member of the Shia community. "It appears to be a sectarian attack, the target was Noori," Nasir said.

The two gunmen then killed two police officials who pursued them after the attack on Noori, and managed to escape, he added.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

State blamed for failing to control attacks against Hazaras

Saleem Javed


Conference on “Hazara genocide in Pakistan” at the House of Commons in London. – Photo courtesy author

Three members of the minority Hazara community were shot dead in Quetta on Thursday. This, barely a week after two brothers were targeted in the same city.

The second and third weeks of November saw an attack on the Shia Hazaras every other day.

While the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has stated that more than 800 Hazaras have been killed since 2001, the figure must surely have gone up given the increasing number of attacks. As it is, around 112 people have been killed and more than 148 Hazaras were injured in 58 incidents in 2012 alone.

Majority of the concerned parties remain aloof to the situation in Pakistan, with the perpetrators of this violence roaming freely. Amidst an increasing sense of insecurity among the members of Hazara community in Quetta, human rights groups and Hazara diaspora have been busy raising the issue in the West.

At a recent conference held in Gothenburg, Sweden aimed at highlighting the “genocide of Hazaras in Pakistan,” more than 200 people were in attendance, including human rights activists and members of civil society.

Historian, writers and rights activists spoke at the conference including Ali Dayan Hassan of Human Rights Watch and Professor Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed of Stockholm University...Continue Reading...

Afghanistan: Drastic Changes for the Taliban

Dec 15, 2012 10:04 PM EST

Afghanistan’s insurgents are thinking of joining the political process—and seeking common cause against Kabul with their old enemies. Ron Moreau and Sami Yousafzai report.

The Taliban seem never to tire of talking about not talking. They have vowed over and over that they won’t negotiate peace until all foreign forces leave Afghanistan—and that they’ll never under any circumstances sit down with President Hamid Karzai’s “puppet regime.” But now the group’s leadership appears to be reconsidering.

According to Zabihullah, a senior Taliban leader who is privy to deliberations inside the insurgency’s Quetta Shura, the ruling council’s political committee is rethinking its positions on a whole range of issues. The possibility of peace talks is only one of the items under review by the committee—which, as far as that goes, may have no more than limited control over the Taliban’s battlefield commanders, says Zabihullah, who uses only the single name and has proved in the past to be a reliable informant. The leadership is also debating the insurgents’ longstanding hostilities against the former Northern Alliance; the Taliban’s rejectionist stance toward the Afghan Constitution; and even the idea of participation in Afghanistan’s next presidential and National Assembly elections.

The deliberations are no doubt encouraged by the fact that Karzai will be constitutionally barred from running for a third term in 2014. And even though the discussions so far have been preliminary and internal, the fact that they are taking place at all could signal big changes ahead.

Afghan children search for plastic and metal items amongst the garbage on the outskirts of Herat on Dec. 13, 2012. (Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty)

The most startling shift so far has been in the Taliban’s attitude toward the Northern Alliance. The Taliban, almost entirely ethnic Pashtun, spent seven years waging war without mercy against the ethnic militias of the NA—predominantly Sunni Muslim Tajiks and Uzbeks and Shiite Hazaras.... Continue Reading... 

Friday, December 14, 2012

3 Hazaras, PIA officer, doctor killed in Balochistan attacks

By: Bari Baloch | December 14, 2012



QUETTA – As many as five people – three Shia community members, a Hindu doctor and a PIA official – were killed in sectarian and targeted attacks in Balochistan’s Quetta, Mastung and Panjgour districts on Thursday, security officials said. In Sirki Kala area of Quetta, unidentified gunmen opened fire at a tailor’s shop, killing a man, namely Shabir Ahmed. The victim was stated to be a resident of the Punjab and a member of the Shia community. According to the officials, the gunmen managed to escape from the crime spot. In another assault, unidentified armed attackers shot dead a government employee near Saleem Complex on Jinnah Road, and fled. Identified as Gul Shireen, the victim was a member of the Shia community. Another Shia died at the Combined Military Hospital shortly after receiving critical gunshot wounds in a targeted attack near Shahrah-e-Iqbal. Identified as Khan Ali, the victim was heading somewhere along with Taj Muhammad, when unidentified attackers sprayed him with bullets. Taj Muhammad was also hit by bullets and was stated to be in serious condition. Both the men belonged to the Hazara community, the officials said. The banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed the responsibility for the killings of the three Shias. The Tahafuz-e-Azadari Council meanwhile strongly condemned the killings, and called a countrywide protest demonstration on Friday. In Mastung district, a bike-borne armed duo mowed down a doctor, namely Dr Lakshmi Chand, and fled the crime scene. According to a senior police officer, Dr Chand was heading towards his clinic from his residence when attacked. An attempt to kidnap him was made a few months back,” added the Mastung DSP.PML-N leader Santosh Kumar condemned the killing of the doctor, and criticised the government for its inability to provide security to the Hindu community. He said that several Hindus had been kidnapped but no accused was brought to justice so far. A PIA official was shot and killed by unidentified attackers in Chatkan area of Panjgour district, bordering Iran. Yasir Arafat, Panjgour airport manager, was passing through Chatkan Bazaar, when the armed men raked his car with bullets. Arafat died instantly. A police party rushed and moved the body to the district headquarters hospital for medico-legal formalities. The victim was stated to be a resident of the Punjab. The motive behind the killing could not be ascertained until the filing of this report. The security officials said separate murder cases had been registered and investigation was in progress.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Dambura takes centre stage at fundraiser

DateDecember 13, 2012 - 7:43PM

Annabel Ross



Murtaza Jafari with Tiger and Me. Photo: Simon Schluter

Murtaza Jafari plays the dambura. It's a curious, long-necked, light wooden instrument, somewhere between a banjo and a guitar, and is popular among the Hazaras of central Afghanistan, where Jafari is from.

On Friday night, the dambura will take centre stage when Jafari performs with Melbourne six-piece band the Tiger and Me at Hamer Hall. Jafari and the band are two of the artists involved in the Key of Sea, a fundraiser in which local musicians are paired up with asylum seekers to create songs, which are recorded on an album and performed at a concert.

The Tiger and Me first caught wind of the project when the inaugural Key of Sea was being developed by Hugh Crosthwaite in 2010.

"I asked Hugh about it when the Key of Sea 1 was being made and he said, 'I don't think you're quite there yet,' but then when the second one rolled around we'd had a really good year, so he gave us a call and invited us to be on it," says Ade Vincent, one of the band's lead vocalists.
Advertisement

Tomorrow night, The Tiger and Me and Jafari will perform alongside fellow Key of Sea artists including Chet Faker and The Royal Swazi Spa and Brous and Awaz.

Jafari, who has played the dambura in front of big crowds in Melbourne and back in Afghanistan, was noticed by Crosthwaite after contributing his music to a documentary that chronicled his journey to Australia from Indonesia by boat ten years ago.

Crosthwaite paired Jafari up with the band, they met up for a cup of tea and a chat, and the next day, devised and recorded a song for the album in the space of 13 hours. Together they created an updated version of an Afghan love song, based on an ancient Afghan poem.

"The song's called Az Eshq Tho, which means 'because of your love', says Jane Hendry, fellow vocalist in the band. "We got a loose translation from Murtaza on what the song was about, and then chose English lyrics to try and convey that and mirror the Afghan lyrics."

"I think it sounds like the Tiger and Me and it sounds like Murtaza," says Vincent. "That's why we're all really proud of it, because it sounds like both acts."

The Key of Sea is at Hamer Hall this Friday the 14th of December at 8pm.