Ethnic Hazaras protest in Kabul in feud with Afghan nomads
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Author | Reuters |
| Publication Date | 22 July 2008 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Ethnic Hazaras protest in Kabul in feud with Afghan nomads, 22 July 2008, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4889d087c.html [accessed 19 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
July 22, 2008
By Reuters
Afghan President Hamid Karzai
KABUL – More than 10,000 ethnic Hazaras have protested in the Afghan capital, calling for President Hamid Karzai to resign over killings of their kin by rival Kuchi nomads.
The angry marchers sent police fleeing on the outskirts of Kabul, then chased them until hundreds of officers and soldiers blocked one of the main roads into the city, next to Kabul zoo.
The marchers then sat down in the middle of the road until one of their leaders, legislator Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, addressed the crowd and persuaded them to peacefully disperse.
Trouble has been brewing between the two minority groups for around a year due to a dispute over grazing rights as the Kuchi nomads bring their herds into the Hazara-dominated highlands of central Afghanistan during the hot summer months.
The mainly ethnic-Pashtun nomads killed more than a dozen Hazara villagers in the Behsud district of the central Maidan-Wardak Province this month, Hazara leaders said. Kuchis said Hazaras attacked their camps and killed a number of nomads.
Hunger Strike
There were similar clashes in the same area last year, and Afghan human rights officials feared the two groups might resort to more widespread violence as neither side had any confidence in the government to resolve the issue.
Mohaqiq went on hunger strike a week ago to demand Karzai take action, while a rival leader of the group, Vice President Mohammad Karim Khalili, boycotted cabinet meetings for three weeks, Afghan media said.
But Karzai on July 20 attempted to head off the discontent by banning Kuchis from the Behsud district and Khalili ended his boycott of cabinet meetings, newspapers said.
Mohaqiq appeared unsatisfied by Karzai's move however, calling out to demonstrators "Karzai," to which the crowd answered "resign." Mohaqiq persuaded the marchers to end the demonstration, saying he would give the government more time to take further action.
The mainly Shi'ite Hazaras, said to be descended from Genghis Khan's hordes, are a traditionally marginalized group and suffered massacres and attempts at ethnic cleansing under the hard-line Sunni Taliban regime that ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001.
While poor rains have heightened competition for grazing between the two groups, Kuchis complain Hazaras have received strong international backing since the Taliban's fall, while Kuchis, they say, are perceived as Taliban collaborators.
