France 24: Can a pipeline route kill Afghan Hazara pipe dreams?

© Wakil Kohsar, AFP / An Afghan protester holds a kerosene lamp at a Kabul protest over the TUTAP electricity project on May 16, 2016.

Text by Leela JACINTO

Latest update : 2016-05-17

Anger among Afghanistan’s minority Hazara group over the rerouting of a planned power transmission line is exposing old ethnic fault lines in a very modern way.

It was not the sort of showdown the august gathering at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a venerable London-based think tank, typically appreciates.

On Thursday, May 12, as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was addressing a gathering at the 185-year-old British institution, an audience member stood up and proceeded to heckle the Afghan leader.

“You’re a liar,” said the heckler, pointing at the Afghan president as the grey-suited gathering stiffened their upper lips and stared resolutely ahead. Afghan security quickly descended on the protester, who bore the distinctive Central Asian features of a Hazara -- a historically persecuted minority now flexing their democratic muscles -- and hustled him out of the room...Continue Reading....

فعالان مدنی، راهپیمایی روز دوشنبه جنبش روشنایی را بی نظیر و تاریخی می خوانند

Aljazeera: Inside Story - Are Afghanistan's Hazaras marginalised?

NYTimes: Huge Protest Against Afghan Government Brings Kabul to a Halt

Thousands of protesters marched in Afghanistan’s capital on Monday in the country’s largest demonstration since 2014. CreditWakil Kohsar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

KABUL, Afghanistan — A large demonstration against the fragile Afghan government brought Kabul to a standstill on Monday and put security forces on alert, with the authorities stacking shipping containers to block all routes to the city center and the presidential palace.

The demonstration, which was driven by ethnic Hazaras’ outrage over the proposed route for a new electricity transmission line, tapped a deep well of factional tensions and frustration over the government of President Ashraf Ghani.

Though most of the protest remained peaceful, some demonstrators pelted the container blockades with rocks and acted violently toward at least five reporters. The security forces resorted to sporadic use of water cannons to disperse people.

Thousands of demonstrators marched from the west of Kabul to demand that the government abandon its decision to reroute the line, which would transmit electricity from Turkmenistan. The line was initially supposed to go through Bamian, a Hazara-dominated central province that is one of the most deprived in the country. But the current proposed route avoids the province,..... Continue Reading...

CBCN: Afghanistan's Hazara minority stages massive protest in Kabul

Hazaras account for up to 15% of Afghanistan's population of 30 million



Demonstrators from Afghanistan's Hazara minority attend a protest in Kabul on Monday. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)

Authorities locked down Afghanistan's capital Monday as tens of thousands of ethnic Hazaras marched through the streets calling on the government to reroute a power line through their poverty-stricken province in a massive protest that reflected public dismay with the government of President Ashraf Ghani.

Amid concerns the protest could turn violent, roads leading into central Kabul's commercial district were blocked to all vehicle and foot traffic by police, who shipping containers to prevent the marchers reaching the presidential palace.

Most of the city's shops were shuttered and armed police units took up positions around the city. Authorities told protest organizers that the march would be confined to a specific route that would not take them near the presidential palace. A November demonstration that followed the beheading of a number of Hazaras by insurgents turned violent.

The backing of other ethnic groups for the protest highlighted the political crisis facing Afghanistan....Continue Reading..... 

Afghan minority Hazaras plan protest over power project

By AFP
Published: May 16, 2016



PHOTO: REUTERS

KABUL: Thousands of minority Shiite Hazaras are expected to protest in Kabul on Monday over a multi-million-dollar power transmission line, in what could potentially snowball into a political crisis for the beleaguered government.

The planned protest follows a massive rally last November galvanised by the beheadings of a group of Hazaras, which became a symbol of the broader public discontent with President Ashraf Ghani’s regime.

The TUTAP power line, which would connect the energy-rich Central Asian nations of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan with Afghanistan and Pakistan, is regarded a crucial project in the electricity-starved region.

But it has been mired in controversy, with leaders from the minority group demanding that the line be routed through central Bamiyan province, which has a large Hazara population.

The line was originally set to pass through Bamiyan but the government decided to reroute it...Continue Reading...

Reuters: Kabul locked down as Afghan authorities face power line protest

KABUL | BY MIRWAIS HAROONI


Demonstrators from Afghanistan's Hazara minority attend a protest in Kabul May 16, 2016.
REUTERS/MOHAMMAD ISMAIL

Thousands of demonstrators from Afghanistan's Hazara minority marched through Kabul on Monday to protest against the planned route of a multi-million dollar power transmission line, posing a major challenge to the government of President Ashraf Ghani.

Some protesters threw stones and tried to climb over shipping containers stacked up to block the streets into Kabul's government and diplomatic areas but no significant violence was reported by mid-morning.

The demonstrators are demanding that the planned route for the 500 kV transmission line linking Turkmenistan with Kabul be changed to pass through two provinces with large Hazara populations, an option the government says would cost millions and delay the badly needed project by years.... Continue Reading...