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First Hazaraghi Dambura Festival in Bamiyan

admin — 2017-07-10T14:52:43Z

by Sharif Ahmadi

On July 7th and 9th the first Dambura Festival took place in Bamiyan. Thousands of women and men participated to one of biggest cultural event organized in the province. The Ulama council tried to prevent the event, claiming the Festival “un-islamic”, but protests spread on social media and the people of Bamiyan chose to enjoy the Festival.

Here the photos of the Festival:

During the Festival the famous musician Safdar Tawakoli has been awarded for his half a century's work on traditional Hazaragi music.

All these photos are under copyright. If you are willing to use these photos please contact Hazara People International Network at the following e-mail: (info AT hazarapeople.com)

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A tougher language test would punish women like my mother, who have lost everything

admin — 2017-06-26T07:57:48Z

by Abdul Karim Hekmat

My mother studied Australian history and politics for months to pass the citizenship test. It was painful, to say the least.

It's easy for an English-speaking, white politician to legislate a language test for Australian citizenship that even someone born in Australia would find hard to pass. The biggest impact would be on migrants or refugees – my mother, for example. Khal Bibi Hekmat never had the opportunity to go to school in Afghanistan. I can't imagine how she would fare on this new language test.

My mother applied for her Australian citizenship three years ago. She had arrived here as a refugee from Afghanistan in 2009, along with my siblings. (I came nine years earlier by boat and could sponsor them). She applied as soon as the four-year waiting period was up, at the same time as my three siblings. They passed the citizenship but my mother, whose English was almost nonexistent despite attending many English classes, failed. Her age – she is 57 – together with never having had the opportunity to go to school in Afghanistan, the trauma of losing so many loved ones in the war, and a son (my younger brother) who drowned on the way to Europe, had affected her ability to learn.

For months, my mother studied Australian history and politics. It was painful, to say the least. She recited lines she could not understand or forgot them the next minute, but she was determined to achieve her ultimate goal – acquiring the Australian citizenship. She hit the books as if it was the only thing that mattered in her life. My sister, Latifa, would quiz her. “Who is the Australian prime minister?” she'd ask. “Tony Bot Bot” (Tony Abbott was the prime minister at the time). We would laugh. “Bot bot” in Hazaragi means a person who bluffs. A fair description, we thought. For Captain Cook, she would say “Captain's Cake”. For the Australian capital she would say “Canabira,” the words tumbling out of her mouth, heavy as stones.

Five times she would come back from the citizenship tests with a big sigh and red eyes. Her pride did not allow her to admit it was a language problem: “Oh, I did not know how to use a computer” or “My eyes got blurry because of the screen,” she would say. Seeing her so frustrated, I said, “Mum, maybe wait a few more years until your English gets better.” “No, no,” she replied adamantly. “I want to pass the test.”

I watched her sitting at home all day with a citizenship booklet on her lap, her eyes red and swollen from staring at what seemed so much like gibberish dancing on the page. But she never gave up, running her fingers across those lines, asking questions, and if we were busy with our own projects, scolding us: “What's the use of you if you won't help me.” Her sheer persistence or good luck paid off – she passed the test in September 2014.

I hadn't seen my mother so happy for a long time. She was so proud and cheerful and had a big grin on her face as she waved her test paper in the air like a child. My siblings' citizenship ceremony happened three months after passing their test. After my sister received her certificate, my mother grabbed it and posed for a photo with the master of the ceremonies who looked bemused. “My mother is waiting for her own ceremony, she hopes this will bring her good luck,” Latifa explained.

I never understood why she wanted to become an Australian citizen so badly. One day I asked. “I want to vote, I want to to be able to visit my sister and my brother,” she said. She wanted to be part of the Australian community, to have an identity of her own, to be free, to travel wherever she wanted to and see her family dispersed around the world. As a woman growing up in Afghanistan, she did not have an identity of her own; she was defined in relation to others – as a daughter or wife or mother, ruled by the code of namus practised in many rural communities, over which men fought for centuries in the name of honour. Living in Australia with a passport, she would be her own woman.

Although she never went to school, she is a remarkable and liberal woman who believes deeply in the value of education for both girls and boys. Back in the 1980s in Afghanistan, she had fought against my father and the whole village who opposed even my education because they thought we would become communists or “infidels” if we went to school. When her daughters were banned going to school in Afghanistan under the Taliban, she smuggled them out of the country; they became refugees in Pakistan, and that was hard – but they could go to school. My sister Latifa wanted to go to university the day she got off the plane in Sydney in 2009 (I asked her to be patient and wait until her jet lag was gone). She graduated from the University of New South Wales with good marks and is now a youth worker, assisting other young people to reach their dreams.

My mother's English may not be great, but she is a very sociable person who has made many friends here. Sometimes on the street she greets passersby, waving at them as she used to do in Afghanistan. Although they smile, it makes me cringe. I remind her we're not in Afghanistan, it's not common here for people to greet strangers. She shrugs me off and says, “Saying hello is a good thing.” One day I was walking with her when a barrel-chested man with a stern expression walked past holding a big bucket of flowers in his hand. “Beautiful flowers,” she said. He looked up in surprise and said “Thank you” with a smile.

The struggle with the citizenship test is only one part of my mother's story. The immigration department delayed her citizenship ceremony for three years for no apparent reason. During this time, we tried everything, writing and calling the department many times and even appealing through our MP but there was no response.

While the world was outraged about Donald Trump's travel ban on Muslims from certain countries, my mother was trapped here, unable to leave the country without an Australian passport to visit her chronically sick sister in Europe or her sick brother in Afghanistan.

Last month my mother's beloved brother died in Afghanistan. All this occurred around the same time that prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and immigration minister Peter Dutton were announcing plans to further tighten the rules around Australian citizenship, which would make it even harder for people like my mother. She still hadn't had her ceremony. Without the ability to travel on an Australian passport, she could not be with him in his final months or even attend his funeral. I'll never forget how heart-wrenching it was to see my mother crying inconsolably for her brother, wiping her tears with the hem of her chador.

Although I have covered other people's struggle with Australian citizenship and the department's incompetency, I did not imagine my mother going through this painful journey. Her situation is not unique – it is far more systematic. In defiance of the federal court ruling by Justice Bromberg for Dutton's “unreasonable” delay of two Hazara refugee citizenship applications, the minister has put about 10,000 applications on hold. My mother received the news of her citizenship after she complained to the department that she would take a legal step. She received her citizenship on 6 June this year. She was excited, but not seeing her brother before he died will haunt her for the rest of her life.

And now this compassion-challenged man seeks new powers – powers that would place him as minister above the court and the law. The new rules would make people wait even longer for citizenship, whatever their family circumstances, and expect them to pass an even more difficult language test than the one my mother struggled through.

I can't imagine how others would fare under the tougher citizenship test. The group who would be hit hardest under this legislation is women – those who lost everything, have not gone to schools and survived horrific violence to call Australia their homes. For over 10 years I have worked with migrants and refugees, supporting their settlements. Many would struggle to pass the test and be excluded from the Australian community.

I agree that people should learn English – my siblings and I have done so of our own accord. But there are many people like my mother who will never master it completely. We don't judge their level of proficiency in English, because they are our mothers and fathers, and for that we love them. Should we punish them? Is this the new Australian value the minister is dictating?

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The Suspicious Man; five heavy accusations against NSA Hanif Atmar

admin — 2017-06-06T06:19:54Z

By Rahmatullah Ershad – Translated by Alizada

The president's NSA Hanif Atmar has come to be eyed as a suspicious man and a seditious advisor. The accusations against him over the past three years are heavy and complicated. Popular individuals and influential political groups from almost every ethnic group have set accusations against him. People from the government as well as from outside the government have blamed him for cooperation with terrorist groups as well as orchestrating assassinations. Most recently, the Jamiat Party and street protestors have demanded his dismissal. This piece presents a review of five big accusations against him voiced by popular individuals and political groups.

#1: Atmar Creates IS: Zahir Qadir's CD says

On November 23, 2015, Zahir Qadir, an MP from Nangarhar to the Afghan Parliament who then served as the first deputy of the lower house accused the government and NSA Atmar at a meeting in the house of carrying out IS creating project. After two-month absence from the house to fight Daesh, he announced to the parliament: “I have evidence that proves the government's hand behind Daesh; the frontline commanders of Daesh live in Kabul and roam around in the ministries and embassies here; the advisor to the president has taken Afghanistan as a hostage.”

As he explained IS activities in Nangarhar province, he blamed the government for cooperating with Daesh and further asserted that NSA Atmar is directly involved in creating Daesh. “Daesh and the Taliban drive government vehicles but the locals have risen against the project; security forces protect them [the terrorists]; they [ANSFs] do not carry out operations against Daesh, nor do they allow the people to do so; the responsibility of the advisor to the president is to advise the president, not to carry out a destabilizing project in the country.”

These accusations, however, stirred reactions from both a number of MPs and security officials. Following these reactions, on November 30, once again reiterated that he has been specific in naming which individuals are involved in creating Daesh and what posts they hold. “I have evidence to back my allegations. If my safety and security is ensured, I will publish them. As you know, after these accusations, there was a suicide attach in Nangarhar that targeted my brother. If cannot prove these accusations with evidence, I will resign,” he said.

On December 2, he once again insisted on the accusations saying that he had evidence to back them. He refused to disclose the evidence fearing collapse of the government in case those were disclosed.

#2: NSA's USD 200 thousand aid to IS in Paktika

NSA also received to other heavy accusations from Karim Matin, the now governor of Paktika, in early 2015. He then said that he had evidence to prove that NSC has paid USD 200 thousand to Daesh families in Barmal district of Paktika province. Following this, the government appointed a delegation to probe into the case who reported the case as false. In May, Mr. Matin was dismissed from his post of governorship and was later appointed as the governor of Ghazni.

Before his dismissal, he had also said that suspicious men from across the Durand are allowed to enter this province by armored vehicles who then make it to other provinces. He further had said that these men who have high purchasing power and communicate with body language, cross Paktika with heavy military equipment and armor vehicles. He had also said to have reported the issue to NSC, without who direction he couldn't take any measures, several times but hadn't received any response.

#3: Organizing the ambush against Dostum

On his return from Ghormach district of Faryab province in May 2016, Gen. Dostum faced an armed ambush. No accurate report on casualties related to the incident were published through media. But reliable sources have said that several strong bodyguards who were so close to the Gen. were killed in the long and complicated ambush. Following this ambush, Gen. Dostum blamed a number of individuals in the government for the incident and several times slammed NSA indirectly. Also following this incident, he named Masoom Istanikzai, head of the NDS a Talib and talked of the ambush as a collusion between NSA and the terrorists.

General Dostum has also blamed the government officials for not granting him the permission to prevent fall of Kunduz for which he had several times requested for the government's approval. It was the NSA who obstructed the general's decision.

Most recently, after accusations of physical and sexual assault on Ahmad Ishchi, Mr. Dostum and the people close to him have asserted the case to be a conspiracy against him aimed at tarnishing his reputation following the failed ambush.

#4: Daesh is another name for NSC

Following the bloody terrorist attack on the protestors of the Enlightenment Movement on July 23 last year, the protestors made some accusations against the government and then, on December 15, Ahmad Behzad directly pointed at NSA (Atmar) and NDS (IStanikzai) in the lower house. At the meeting in the parliament, Mr. Behzad said that Daesh is just another name for the NSC.

He added: “Over the past several months we have repeatedly said that we have evidence to prove that the government, particularly high-ranking individuals in the NSC and NDS have a hand behind the Dehmazang attack. One of the attackers whose body was not destroyed in the attach has been identified to have been released from NDS prison just a few days before the attack. Why no legal entity is talking action against this? Why do the heads of the government become turn dead ears and blind eyes to the issue?”

In the meeting at the lower house he said that Daesh is just another name of the NSC and NDS. He added, “Evidence show that, before the wounded were taken away from the square, the body of the third attacker had been taken off the area. Why this crime is not taken seriously?”

He also added, “Find out those who, a few days before the attack, had released these terrorist form NDS prison, armed them with suicide vest and sent them to Dehmazang Square.”

#5: The Latest Accusation: I will disclose the terrorists inside the government

Following the terrorist attack in Wazir Akbar Khan on Wednesday, opening fire at the protestors on Friday, and the triple suicide attack at the burial proceedings of Salem Izadyaar in Badam Bagh, Jamiat's acting chair Salahuddin Rabbani tweeted that they will soon disclose names of the terrorists inside the government and will announce their stance in this regard.

At a press conference on Monday, Mr. Rabbani called firing at the protestors as illegal, saying that the carnage tarnished the image of security forces in people's mind. People will have the same image of the security forces in their minds as they do of the terrorists. He also announced at the conference that after investigations and debates, the leadership council of Jamiat has unanimously decided to demand dismissal of NSA Hanif Atmar. He also announced dismissal of other security officials as Jamiat's demand.

Following today's conference in Kabul, accusations against Atmar has taken further momentum and the demand for his dismissal has gained more popular support. Now that all ethnic groups complain Atmar's moves, in one way or the other, Jamiat's stance in support of the dismissal has turned it into a popular demand and a crucial issue.

This article was published in Dari in Etelaat Roz Daily

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Terror and prejudice: how the last attack on Kabul plunged Afghanistan into a deeper crisis

admin — 2017-06-05T20:24:56Z

by @NikValentini

On Wednesday 31 May a terror attack shook the capital Kabul leaving at least 150 people dead and more than 400 wounded. Many buildings have been badly damaged including some embassies present in the area. While the German Embassy staff employees saved themselves only because they received an earlier warning of the threat, most of the people in Kabul have not been so lucky.

According to many reports, the huge bombing has been carried out by a tanker contracted by embassies and belonging to the private company of Mirwais Yasini, a renowned MP from Nangarhar. Intelligence sources claim that the attack was organized and conducted by the Haqqani Network with the support of the Pakistan military Intelligence ISI but many people in Afghanistan believe that the attack would not be possible without an inside hand.

Quoting NDS sources, Afghan TV implicates member of parliament, Mirwais Yasini, in Wednesday's deadly Kabul attack https://t.co/wju2Bwa2PJ

— Akmal Dawi (@akmaldawi) June 1, 2017

Incredibly to this day Mr. Yasini has not been interrogated on why the terrorist had one of his tankers. In response to the attack President Ashraf Ghani ordered the execution of eleven Haqqani network prisoners. Taliban threatened that if the terrorists will be executed, foreign hostages will be killed in retaliation.

After some hours from the attack, a protest erupted when hundreds of people gathered together in Kabul to demonstrate against a government considered unable to ensure security to its own citizens. While most of the people demonstrated peacefully some of them reacted angrily and started to throw stones at the police.

Kabul demonstration – July 2017 photo by Sharif Ahmadi

Security forces opened fire on the crowd, killing seven people and injuring dozens. Among the dead there was even the son of senator Ezadyar. The youngest victim was only 8 years old. According to Amnesty International: “The security forces' use of excessive and fatal force on protesters voicing anger over one of Afghanistan's deadliest ever attacks illustrates the authorities' contempt for the lives of ordinary people. While there are reports that a minority of protesters used violence including throwing stones at the police, this does not justify such an excessive and deadly response.”

Immediately after the tragedy the country found itself united in mourning. Brave journalists risked their lives to report about the situation, citizens rushed out to hospitals around the city to donate blood and some of them collected money for the victims.

We are live and on air again. Terror can't stop us. We let the people around the world to know that how savage you are.#kabulattack pic.twitter.com/wnlCn2OHiY

— Abdullah Khenjani (@AbdullahAzada) May 31, 2017

But when the protest against the government erupted, many people started to take position; some of the supporters of the government reduced the entire demonstration to few violent people, while others defended the democratic right of citizens to demonstrate. Soon the attention shifted from the terror attack to the protest legitimacy.

Kabul protest, photo by Sharif Ahmadi

On Saturday afternoon during Senator Ezadyar's son's funeral, a series of attacks hit the capital. Three kamikaze blew themselves up, killing at least 18 people. At the burial service were present also the Chief Executive of Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah, the State Minister for Security Reforms, Amrullah Saleh and other former member of Ahmad Shah Massoud's Northern Alliance.

Many high profile officials I talked 2 say tht today's explosions were orchestrated aiming at massacre of northern leaders #AfghanAwakening

— Tahir Qadiry (@tahirqadiry) June 3, 2017

Afghanistan is still struggling to become a nation: in all its history there has been only one President that didn't belong to the main dominant ethnic group, different groups have their own traditions and moral codes, and a common history with a single legacy doesn't exist.

But if it's true that Afghanistan is not a nation-state, in front of these multiple attacks on civilians, it would be better acting like if it was. Because as the French philosopher and historian Ernest Renan said: “A nation is a large-scale solidarity”, and in this kind of society there is no place for Taliban or for ethnic supremacy. But nothing of this will be achieved without an inclusive government, a balanced development for the country and an equal treatment of all the people who contribute to the richness and beauty of Afghanistan.

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گروه بین المللی بحران: ناکامی در حفاظت از هزاره ها و جنجال توتاپ، جایگاه رییس جمهور و کابینه را بین هزاره ها تضعیف کرده است

admin — 2017-04-12T14:14:18Z

گزارش گروه بین المللی بحران تحت عنوان ” افغانستان: آینده حکومت وحدت ملی” که در ۱۰ اپریل ۲۰۱۷ منتشر شد، به چالش های فرا راه حکومت افغانستان می پردازد و راهکارهایی را برای برون رفت از این چالش ها پیشنهاد می کند.

این گزارش که بر مبنای مصاحبه با مقامات حکومت وحدت ملی، پرسونل نیروهای امنیتی و دفاعی افغانستان، اعضای پارلمان، رهبران احزاب سیاسی، فعالان جامعه مدنی، خبرنگاران، تاجران، دیپلومات های غربی و مقامات امنیتی آماده شده است، در کنار پرداختن به اختلافات درونی بین غنی و عبدالله، به آنان توصیه می کند که برای ثبات دولت و کشور آنان نیاز دارند تا با هم یکجای کار کنند.

این گزارش می گوید که اختلاف بین غنی و عبدالله به دلیل ابهام در توافقنامه‌ سیاسی است که بر مبنای آن حکومت وحدت ملی با میانجیگری امریکا شکل گرفته است.

این گزارش می افزاید حتی در جایی که توافق نامه در حال اجراست، به طور خاص در مورد تقرری ها در بست های بلند نظامی و ملکی، هر دو طرف، متحدان خود را به طور عمده بر مبنای قومی در بدنه حکومت و نهادهای امنیتی جای می دهند، به گونه ای که غنی پشتون تباران خود را و عبدالله هم تاجیک تباران خود را ترجیح می دهند. در نتیجه احساس تبعیض در درون اقوام کنار گذاشته شده به ویژه هزاره ها و اوزبیک ها که با عدم مشوره گیری از آنان در برنامه های انکشافی و دیگر موارد تشدید شده است، منجر به شکاف قومی و منطقه ای فزاینده می شود.

در این قسمت، گروه بین المللی بحران به حکومت وحدت ملی پیشنهادهایی می دهد از جمله:

مشوره با اقوامی که در حکومت کنار گذاشته شده اند و یا کمتر از حد نیاز از آنان نمایندگی صورت می گیرد از جمله هزاره ها و اوزبیک ها در مورد طرح های اقتصادی و سیاسی تا این که از تشدید حس بیگانگی و ناسازگاری از طریق تعصبات جلوگیری به عمل آید.
پایان دادن به تقرری های های جانبدارانه و قومی در بخش های مدیریتی و اجرایی حکومت

این گزارش به موضوعات گوناگون از جمله اصلاحات انتخاباتی، مشکلات نیروهای امنیتی و دفاعی، مساله طالبان و دیگر موارد پرداخته است.
تنش های قومی یکی دیگر از مواردی است که این گزارش به طور نسبتا مفصلی به آن پرداخته است.

این گزارش می گوید شکاف های قومی و نژادی نیروهای امنیتی و دفاعی افغانستان عموما بیشتر در کشور بازتاب پیدا می کنند. حس جانبداری قومی در حکومت وحدت ملی، بی اعتمادی را تشدید می کند و بیگانگی را در میان اقلیت های طرد شده تقویت می کند. به نظر می رسد غنی و عبدالله انتصاب افراد از قوم خود را در تقرری های کلیدی ترجیح می دهند همانگونه که معاونان و معین هایشان نیز این کار را می کنند. حتی اگر درجایی که این تقرری ها فقط بر مبنای شایستگی بوده باشد، تصمیم غنی برای انتصاب هم پیمانان عمدتا پشتون در مقام های قدرت و صلاحیت به عنوان جانبداری نگریسته می شود؛ تمامی چهار مشاور نزدیک رییس جمهور پشتون اند در حالی که به نظر می رسد عبدالله تاجیک تباران را ترجیح می دهد.

این گزارش همچنین در ادامه می افزاید: طبق اطلاعاتی که یک ماموریت دیپلوماتیک پیرامون هویت قومی تقرری های حکومت وحدت ملی در کابینه و ولایت ها گردآوری کرده است، از میان ۲۳ تقرری که عبدالله صورت داده است، ۱۴ تای آن تاجیک اند، ۵ تا هزاره و تنها ۳ پشتون یا اوزبیک وجود دارد. از ۴۰ تقرری که غنی صورت داده است، ۲۹ تای آن پشتون، ۵ تا اوزبیک و ۵ تا تاجیک و هزاره اند. یافته های مجموعه اطلاعاتی که ۱۵۰ تقرری را به مقایسه گرفته است نشان می دهد تیم رییس جمهور پشتون ها و تیم ریاست اجرایی تاجیک ها را بر هزاره ها و اوزبیک ها ترجیح می دهند. نتیجه مطالعات یک روزنامه داخلی در جون ۲۰۱۶ نشان می دهد که از میان ۴۶ سفارت و قونسلگری، ۱۶ تای آن از سوی پشتون ها، ۱۴ تا از سوی تاجیک ها و برای اوزبیک ها و هزاره ها هر کدام ۲ تا در نظر گرفته شده است.

در ادامه این گزارش آمده است که پیش گیری از حس جانبداری قومی در تقرری ها و روی دست گرفتن اقدامات بهبودی عاجل برای پاسخ دهی به نارضایتی های قومی دارای اهمیت ویژه است آن هم در کشوری که در حال حاضر نزاع های گوناگون را تجربه می کند. رقابت ها و چانه زنی های قومی در افغانستان چند قومیتی و چند منطقه ای امری اجتناب ناپذیر است، اما اگر به آن پاسخ داده نشود، نارضایتی ها می تواند حس بیگانگی و اختلاف را تشدید کنند، همان گونه که جنبش روشنایی این قضیه را نشان می دهد.

گزارش گروه بین المللی بحران چنین ادامه می یابد که تصمیم کابینه در ۳۰ اپریل ۲۰۱۶ برای تغییر دادن یک خط برق از مسیر پیشنهاد شده اصلی آن یعنی بامیان که ولایت عمدتا هزاره نشین است به مسیر سالنگ، یک رویارویی کلانی را بین رییس جمهور و رهبران هزاره و فعالان جامعه مدنی به وجود آورد. در ۶ ماه می، خلیلی معاون رییس جمهور سابق که یک هزاره است با نامیدن توتاپ به عنوان “خط قرمز ما” هشدار داد که “دولت نباید مردم (اقوام) را علیه هم دیگر تحریک کند”. در اواسط این ماه، فعالان هزاره تبار جامعه مدنی که از حمایت رهبران سیاسی شان برخوردار بودند، جنبش روشنایی را تشکیل دادند، که از سوی یک شورای عالی مردمی ۴۰ نفره مدیریت می شود. معترضان مدعی بودند که مسیر جدید (سالنگ) باز هم یک “اقدام عمدی” از سوی رهبران پشتون برای ” اعمال تبعیض سیستماتیک علیه هزاره ها” از طریق محروم کردن آنان از مزایای یک پروژه انکشافی – اقتصادی است. رقیبان غیر هزاره حکومت وحدت ملی و طرفدار کرزی از جمله داوودزی وزیر سابق داخله و رحمت الله نبیل رییس سابق امنیت ملی – که به گفته این گزارش – این را فرصتی برای هدف قرار دادن حکومت وحدت ملی می دیدند، از جنبش روشنایی حمایت کردند.

در ۱۶ می ۲۰۱۶، بیش از ده هزار هزاره به جاده های کابل آمدند و از حکومت خواستند که تصمیم خود را تغییر دهد. اگرچه این اعتراضات که در بسیاری از شهرهای افغانستان برگزار شد به طور عمده صلح آمیز بود، با این حال زد و خوردهایی با پولیس هم وجود داشت. حکومت با توجیه کردن مسیر سالنگ به عنوان مسیری کوتاه تر که در نتیجه باعث شتاب پروژه و صرفه جویی در هزینه می شود، یک خط برق فرعی را برای بامیان پیشنهاد کرد که برخی رهبران هزاره از جمله محمد محقق معاون دوم عبدالله آن را پذیرفت؛ اما دیگران خواهان اعتراض بیشتر شدند. گزارش می گوید که این اعتراضات تنش ها بین هزاره ها و پشتون ها را تشدید کرد؛ تظاهرات هایی در شهرهای پشتون نشین برگزار شد که از هزاره ها به دلیل تبدیل کردن یک پروژه زیربنایی ملی به یک تنش قومی انتقاد می کردند.

داعش شاخه خراسان که ضد شیعه است در ماه جولای ۲۰۱۶ بر یک تظاهرات جنبش روشنایی در کابل حمله کرد که منجر به کشته شدن بیش از ۸۵ تن و زخمی شدن ۴۰۰ تن دیگر شد. با در نظرداشت چهار حمله دیگر داعش شاخه خراسان از جمله بمگذاری انتحاری در یک مسجد در کابل در ۲۱ نوامبر که ۳۲ تن را کشت و ۵۰ تن را زخمی کرد، ناکامی برای حفاظت از هزاره های عمدتا شیعه و جنجال توتاپ باعث شد تا جایگاه کابینه به ویژه جایگاه رییس جمهور در بین هزاره ها تضعیف شود.

گزارش می افزاید که اعتراضات هزاره ها صلح آمیز باقی مانده است اما نارضایتی ها و تنش های قومی در گذشته باعث بروز نزاع شده اند و همچنان این روند ادامه دارد. در واقع، نزاع در ولایت های چند قومیتی مانند بغلان، کندز و فاریاب به همان اندازه با درگیری بین شبه نظامیان قومی طرفدار دولت ارتباط دارد که با فعالیت های هراس افکنانه طالبان ارتباط دارد؛ توانایی طالبان در جلب حمایت نیز به طور عمده نتیجه این است که این گروه خود را به طور موفقانه به عنوان مدافع پشتون ها به تصویر می کشد.

همچنین این گزارش در ادامه می گوید که حس تبعیض قومی تنها به نفع تخریب گران است؛ حکومت وحدت ملی باید تقرری ها را بر اساس شایستگی و نه مسائل قومی و دیگر موارد جانبدارانه انجام دهد. با شامل ساختن تمام اقوام در دولت داری و پالیسی های امنیتی که منافع شان را تحت تاثیر قرار می دهد، حکومت وحدت ملی در جایگاه بهتری برای پیش گیری از سوء برداشت هایی که به اعتبارش صدمه وارد می کند قرار می گیرد و در نتیجه احتمال بروز نزاع را کاهش می دهد.

گزارش در اخیر اظهار می دارد که روابط پرتنش میان غنی و عبدالله که عمدتا از قرارداد مبهم تقسیم قدرت ناشی می شود، با تلاش ها جهت به حاشیه راندن شخص دوم، تشدید شده است. علاوه بر این، گرایش این دو نفر در ترجیح دادن افراد قومی خودشان منجر به افزایش شکاف هم در داخل دستگاه حکومت و هم در کشور چند قومیتی و چند منطقه ای افغانستان می شود.

اگر حکومت وحدت ملی خواهان دوام و افغانستان نیازمند ثبات باشد، رییس جمهور و رییس اجرایی باید فورا اختلافات خود را حل و فصل کرده و منافع عمومی را بر منافع شخصی خود ترجیح دهند. این دو تنها در صورتی می توانند به چالش هایی که کشور با آن مواجه است صادقانه رسیدگی کنند که با هم یکجا کار کنند. مشکلات اقتصادی، بحران انسانی فزاینده و هراس افکنی رو به رشد از جمله این چالش ها می باشد.

آنلاین : http://www.hazarapeople.com/fa/?p=22357

Why the Enlightenment Movement of Afghanistan Matters

admin — 2017-04-07T11:12:04Z

by @NikValentini

The rally in Canberra that was organized by thousands of Hazara activists who support the Enlightening Movement to raise requests of equality, peace and democracy, lift up also one of their main concerns: forced deportation of Hazara asylum seekers to Afghanistan where they risk persecution, discrimination, torture and death. Previous agreements and President Ashraf Ghani's words show that their fears are founded.

On 3^rd April 2017, Hazara activists in collaboration with the Enlightenment Movement (Junbish-e Roshnai) organized a huge rally in Canberra – Australia in which thousands of people took part. In this rally, beside Australia the Hazaras from across the world supported the event through different means. The demonstration took place while the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visited Australia; a visit that end up with the Australia's four-year $320m aid commitment. The issue of forcible returns of asylum seekers was not discussed though, but Hazaras in Australia and other part of the world are concerned and their fears are legitimate since they have witnessed previous agreements on forced deportation as well as President Ghani's previous statements that prove it.The demonstrators remembered the famous interview in which President Ghani said that he has “no sympathy for Afghan migrants”. Even the choice of the word migrant instead of refugee, shows the President's attitude towards people who have fled the war-torn country despite the fact that his own children are living peacefully abroad.

A different kind of memorandum of understanding between Australia and Afghanistan was signed in 2011; this memorandum allowed the forcible return of asylum seekers to Afghanistan. Most of the asylum seekers deported from Australia after this formal agreement, were Hazaras.Another agreement was signed last year between Afghanistan and EU. With this agreement called “The joint way forward” the EU pledged 13.6 million Euro aids in exchange for the forced deportation of an unlimited number of asylum seekers to Afghanistan. The Joint Way forward agreement has been criticized also by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles because it allows the return of “unaccompanied children”; a practice against the European law and the Geneva Convention. As a result hundreds of asylum seekers have been deported while many others choose to take their lives rather than be deported.

The Canberra rally has been a success, both in term of participation and effectiveness. This movement represents a revolution in Afghanistan, but its importance is not restricted only to this country. In current time, when human and civil rights are under threats in many European countries, as well as in Australia and in the USA, the Enlightening Movement could become an ally for the worldwide protection of these rights and a new beacon of hope for a western world in decay.Some people criticized the rally and the movement due to its ethnic conformation
Of course Afghanistan is dangerous for everyone and not just for Hazaras and it's a big violation of international law for countries to return people to places where they're unsafe, but there are facts to take into consideration. Hazaras in Afghanistan face major threats: they have always been targeted by terrorists because they are considered infidels or allied of foreign powers due to their commitment towards democracy, they are still discriminated in the society and institutions, they also face more deprivations, since development resources were and are still allocated mainly in non-Hazara regions.
Assuming that Hazaras should speak on behalf of all Afghans or simply remain silent means that the discrimination they suffer is not considered real, despite plenty of independent research and articles affirm the contrary.
If the discrimination is against them as specific ethnic group, why shouldn't they ask for their rights to be respected? The fact that the constitution in Afghanistan guarantees equal rights to all the ethnic groups means very little since the gap between formal and material constitution in Afghanistan is very large.

Besides, Afghanistan is a country not a nation. Most of the people identify themselves with their ethnic or tribal groups, and throughout the history of Afghanistan, the word Afghan has been considered a synonymous of Pashtun.

It's also important to consider that since its birth as a state in 1747 Afghanistan has been ruled exclusively only by one ethnic group. Kings, presidents or Taliban all belonged to this ethnic group, with the only exception of President Burhanuddin Rabbani. This fact is also one of the main reasons that prevent people in Afghanistan to identify themselves as an Afghan nation.

Everyone would like to see a united Afghanistan in which all its beautiful ethnic groups would have the possibility to live peacefully together, but denying the existence of different identities will not help to accomplish this dream.

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Why is Canada still bankrolling the persecution of Afghanistan's Hazaras?

admin — 2017-03-24T17:57:56Z

by Ali Mirzad

Given the Trump administration's increasingly divisive policies aimed at Muslims and immigrants in general, Canada increasingly is being seen around the world as a safe haven and sanctuary. With its renewed commitment to the UN, its human rights laws and enlightened immigration policy, Canada looks like a bright light in a dark political climate of ethnic scapegoating.

All of which makes Canada's silence on Afghanistan's repeated human rights crimes against one ethic group — the Hazaras — deeply troubling.

The Hazaras, who once represented 60 per cent of Afghanistan's population, were the victims of systemic ethnic cleansing and genocide in the 18th century under the rule of Amir Abdur Rahman Khan. According to the Australian newspaper The Argus, On October 20, 1893, the brutal dictator sold thousands of Hazaras into slavery.

During the Taliban era the Hazaras were once again the target of a campaign of systematic genocide. In early February 1993 a ruthless warlord named Abdul Rasul Sayyaf descended upon Kabul's Afshar district to launch an orgy of killing, rape and looting. Human Rights Watch and UN reports indicate that thousands were slaughtered, skinned alive and left on the streets for weeks.

Confident in the goodwill of Canada and the international community, Hazaras were among the first to give up their arms and submit themselves to the political process of democracy in Afghanistan. The Afghan government reciprocated with a general amnesty in 2007, granting absolute immunity to warlords responsible for genocide and war crimes such as Sayyaf.

The Hazaras have been the targets of kidnapping and various forms of discrimination ever since Canada's Afghan engagement began.

In November 2015, a bus was pulled over and all Hazara passengers were decapitated on the side of the road. Among them was a 9-year-old girl named Shukria Tabassum, murdered simply for being a Hazara.

In July 2016, scores of Hazaras students were peacefully protesting the government's decision to bar Hazara-populated lands such as Bamiyan from receiving electricity, by redirecting TUTAP's original trajectory. TUTAP was a mega power project funded by the Asian Development Bank and World Bank.

Canada continues to pour millions of dollars into Afghanistan, despite the evidence of unequal distribution of foreign aid and widespread corruption at the highest levels.

The project's initial assessment completed by Fichtner, a German engineering consultant, recommended the TUTAP route pass through the province of Bamiyan. This recommendation was promptly vetoed by the Afghan regime.

Human rights activists and journalists alike have been attacked and supressed by the regime after raising the TUTAP issue or the general percussion of the Hazaras. For instance, in May of 2016, where Ghani Ahmadzay was speaking at the Royal United Services Institute, his security protocol brutally attacked and nearly suffocated two young Hazara activists (British citizens) that spoke out against the regime. Just months later in August 2016, the regime ordered the arbitrary arrest of dozens of Bamiyan's activists and journalists ahead of Ghani Ahmadzay's trip to that province.

On August 13, 2016, hundreds of Afghan Canadians gathered before Parliament Hill to peacefully protest the Canadian government's decision to continue its financial support to the current corrupt regime of Kabul at the expense of Canadian taxpayers.

Upon the opening day of the 42nd Canadian Parliament (September 19th 2016), Afghan-Canadian human rights activists held a press conference inside the National Press Theater, reminding the federal government of the plight of the Hazaras and Canada's responsibilities.

Of the entire Canadian government apparatus, only Senator Mobina Jaffer responded to these cries for help. In a moving speech in the Red Chamber, Senator Jaffer called upon her colleagues and Canadians to stand up for the human rights of the Hazaras.

Unfortunately, while Canada debates whether to act, more lives have been lost. On January 6, nine Hazara miners were abducted and executed on their way to work.

United Kingdom's former prime minister David Cameron, in a conversation with the Queen, once referred to Afghanistan as “fantastically corrupt” – a country that Canada continues to pour millions of dollars into, despite the evidence of unequal distribution of foreign aid and widespread corruption at the highest levels.

When Canada, like many other nations, decided to enter the Afghan arena in 2001 it did so as part of an international effort to defeat a common enemy that threatened global security. One hundred and fifty-eight of our brave Canadian men and women in uniform paid the ultimate sacrifice fighting that enemy. Yet the failing Afghan regime has repeatedly referred to the Taliban as “our Afghan brothers” — an absurd and disturbing statement for Afghans worldwide, and a slap in the face for the families of Canadian soldiers who died in Afghanistan.

Despite worldwide protests, in early September 2016 the Afghan regime quietly signed a pact with Gulbudin Hekmatyar, known to Afghans as “the butcher of Kabul” and to the U.S. State Department as a terrorist and supporter of both al Qaida and the Taliban. The deal grants Hekmatyar complete immunity for all the atrocities he has thus far committed.

The time to act is now. Will Canada stand up for the human rights of the Hazaras? Will the Trudeau government prevent another young Hazara child from meeting the same tragic fate as Shukria?

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Ali Mirzad is a Hazara-Canadian human rights activist.

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An Open Letter from the Poets World-wide to the Hazara, Civil and Human Rights Organizations, Immigration Authorities, and World Leaders

admin — 2017-03-21T09:04:45Z

We poets from around the world, proclaim to the Hazara people, that we are in full solidarity with your civic and cultural movements to protect your human rights. We are aware that you are victims of systematic crimes, including genocide, slavery, forced displacement, discrimination, and the invasion of your homeland, Hazaristan. However, like the movements that ended apartheid in South Africa, and the American civil rights movement, your movements such as the Hazara Enlightenment movement will also achieve success. We hear your voices, we reflect it in our poetry, and lift it into contemporary world literature.

Today, the systematic crimes against the Hazara in Afghanistan and Pakistan are proof that the Hazara are being deprived of their human rights. In Afghanistan, where the Hazara are its native people, the government ignores the crimes against the Hazara, and misleads the international community by granting the Hazara a few insignificant government posts.

Some of the most recent crimes against the Hazara are:
• Ignoring demands for their basic rights and equal treatment
• Attacks on peaceful Hazara protests, for example on July 23, 2016, a bloody attack on the peaceful protest of the Hazara Enlightenment movement killed and injured over 400 in Kabul.
• Oppressive actions by the government against the Hazara Enlightenment movement including refusal to provide security for its gatherings and protests, isolating and blocking roads at protests, censoring, threatening the movement's activists with detention, and firing on them from public institutions.
• Using terrorists to obstruct Hazara travel by abducting, torturing, killing, and beheading them, including children and women. This has made the secure passage of Hazara impossible on nearly all roads in Afghanistan.
• Organizing war crimes including bloody attacks on Hazara religious and non- religious gatherings in major cities like Kabul and Mazar i Sharif.
• Allowing attacks on Hazara villagers by armed Pashtun nomads who have full government and Taliban support.
• Allowing organized attacks on Hazara activists, artists and writers.
• Systematic discrimination against the Hazara in public institutions and governmental offices.
• Marginalization of the Hazara by depriving them of fulfilling careers, and allowing them only manual labor jobs. Hazara make up less than 5% of those employed in public institutions and governmental offices.
• Driving frustrated and hopeless young Hazara to drug addiction.
• Allocating less than 2% of the national budget to Hazara areas.
• Posting of Hazara soldiers and officers to the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan.
• Afghan government agreements with western countries for forced deportation targeting primarily Hazara asylum seekers. .

The attacks and systematic destruction of the Hazara are being carried out by the Afghan government and the terrorist groups including the Taliban and Daesh. There are many reports on the links between some high-ranking officials and terrorist groups.

In Pakistan, the Hazara are still under attack, and the government is not able or not willing to protect them.

Organized attacks and genocide of the Hazara in the 21th century continue the policies of Hazara ethnic cleansing and invasion of their lands.

In the 19th century, during the rule of Afghan Dost Mohammad Khan, The Hazara, made up about 67% of their country's population. However, many Hazara faced forced displacement during this period.

At the end of the century, Afghan king, Abdurrahman Khan, with British support, planned the genocide of the Hazara. More than 62% were killed, thousands were sold as slaves and many parts of the Hazara's lands had been invaded. After these crimes, in this area, the name Afghanistan appeared on maps.

Afghanistan's entire 20th century history has been marked by killings of Hazaras and systematic discrimination against them. On February 10 and 11, 1993 in the Afshar area of Kabul, the Mujahadeen government, and its allies exterminated and left injured thousands of Hazara men, women and children. In August 1998, the Taliban killed more than ten thousand Hazaras in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Similar bloodbaths quickly spread to other parts of Afghanistan including Yakawlang. Destroying Hazara history and promoting an inaccurate, demeaning history of their culture have been further strategies, in addition to violent crimes. For example, in March 2001, the Taliban notoriously destroyed the ancient Buddha sculptures of Bamyan which were principal symbols of Hazara history and culture, and one of the most popular masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. Such is the history of two centuries of crimes against the Hazara, and from which they still suffer.

We, the poets world-wide address our letter to the civil and human rights activists and organizations, and ask them to monitor the Hazara rights situation, document the crimes against them, raise awareness in the world about the Hazara, and put pressure on the government to end the crimes. The crimes mentioned in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination are the same as the crimes that the Hazara suffered and still suffer. Those conventions should be helpful to prevent the crimes against the Hazara.

We, the poets world-wide address our letter to the immigration directories, and ask them to grant Hazara asylum seekers political asylum. The condition of the Hazara fit the 1951 Refugee convention and related protocols. The agreement with the Afghan government on forced deportation is another crime in addition to those they suffer.

We ask the world's politicians to recognize the Hazara genocide in their national parliaments and in international communities, to use all legal methods to stop crimes against the Hazara permanently, and see that the victims are compensated.

We especially ask the British government to officially apologize to the Hazara for supporting the Afghan dictator at the end of 19th century. This support resulted in the genocide, slavery, forced displacement and systematic discrimination—much of which abides today. It merits compensation to the descendants of the wronged.

The international community should put pressure on the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and make their aid conditional on the improvement of human rights including the Hazara rights.

Again, we the poets world-wide are with the Hazara.

Signatures:

• Kamran Mir Hazar, poet, Hazaristan, Norway
• Fernando Rendón, poet, editor, and director of International Poetry Festival of Medellin (Colombia)
• Etnairis Ribera, poet, Puerto Rico
• Vyacheslav Kupriyanov, poet, Russia
• Berry Heart, poet, Botswana
• Alfredo Fressia, poet, Uruguay, Brazil
• Achour Fenni, poet, Algeria
• Carlos López Degregori, poet, Perú
• Winston Morales Chavarro, poet, Colombia
• Irena Matijaševi? , poet, Croatia
• Carla Christopher , poet, U.S.A.
• André Cruchaga, poet, El Salvador
• Iris Miranda, poet, Puerto Rico
• Rafael Patiño Góez , poet, Colombia
• Luz María López, poet and editor, Puerto Rico
• Dragana Evtimova, poet and translator, Macedonia
• Lee Kuei-shien, poet, Taiwan
• Laus Strandby Nielsen, poet, Denmark
• Sulma Montero, poet, Bolivia
• Neeli Cherkovski, poet, U.S.A.
• Beppe Costa, poet, Italy
• Bina Sarkar Ellias, poet, India
• Chen Hsiu-chen, poet, Taiwan
• Rati Saxena, poet, India
• Fad?l Oktay , poet, Turkey
• Metin Cengiz, poet, Turkey
• Fahredin Shehu, poet, Kosovo
• Debasmita Ganguly, poet, India
• Angelina Llongueras, poet, Catalonia
• Hussein Habasch, poet, Kurdistan
• A'zam Obidov , poet, Uzbekistan
• Attila F. Balázs, poet, editor, and translator, Slovakia
• Simón Zavala Guzmán, poet, Ecuador
• Bengt Berg, poet, Sweden
• Jalal El Hakmaoui , poet, Morroco, Marruecos
• William Perez Vega , poet, Puerto Rico
• Markus Barbarossa , poet, Austria
• Jean-Marc Desgent , poet, Quebec, Canada
• Marco Cinque, poet and musician, Italy
• Antonino Caponnetto, poet, Italy
• Gabriel Ánge, poet, Colombia
• Ahmad al shahawy, poet and journalist, Egypt
• Olivera Docevska, lawyer, poet, diplomat, human rights activist, translator and editor, Macedonia
• Eduardo Esparza, painter, Colombia
• Ricardo Rubio, poet, Argentina
• Elsa Tió, poet, Puerto Rico
• Carlos Barbarito, poet, Argentina
• Dan Taulapapa McMullin, poet and artist, American Samoa & U.S.A.
• Ioana Trica, poet, Romania
• Catherine Marchais, poet, France
• Peter Semoli?, poet, Slovenia
• Alexander Zanches, poet, Panama
• Carolina Zamudio, poet, Argentina
• Annabell Manjarrés Freyle, poet, Colombia
• Manuel Pachon Freyle, poet, Colombia
• Antonella A. Rizzo, poet, Italy
• Carlos Ciro, poet, Colombia
• Stefania Di Lino, poet, Italy
• Franca Palmieri, poet, Italy
• Fabrizio Arrighi , poet, Italy
• Giovanna Iorio, poet, Italy
• Xibri Valbona, poet, Italy
• Lina María Trujillo, poet, Colombia
• Alfonso Rendon, poet, Panama
• Andrea Garbin, poet, Italy
• Iris Violeta Pujols, poet, Puerto Rico
• Alessandro Galli, poet, Italy
• Stefania Battistella, poet, Italy
• Jona Burghardt, poet, Argentina
• Jason Forbus, poet, Italy
• Maria Ostolaza , poet, Puerto Rico
• Carlos Andrés Jaramillo, poet, Colombia
• Althea Romeo-Mark , poet, Antigua
• Cristina Domenech, poet, Argentina
• Adriano Corrales Arias, poet, Costa Rica
• Aida Parraga , poet, EL Salvador
• Luis Fernando Osorno Giraldo , poet, Colombia
• Angela Tello, poet, Colombia
• George M Momogos, poet, South Africa
• Anthony L. Tan, poet, Philippines
• Alicia Minjarez Ramírez, poet, Mexico
• Gémino H. Abad, poet, Philippines
• Dušan Gojkov, poet, Serbia
• Dinah Roma, poet, Philippines
• Shailja Patel, poet, Kenya
• Keshab Sigdel, poet, Nepal
• Valeriano Forte, poet, Italy
• Marc Delouze, poet, France
• Hatto Fischer, poet, Germany
• Gerry Loose, poet, Scotland
• K. Satchidanandan, poet, India
• George Momogos, poet, South Africa
• Samir Delgado, poet, Canary Islands
• Tobias Burghardt, poet, Germany
• Daniel de Culla, poet, Spain
• Agneta Falk, poet, Sweden
• Jack Hirschman, poet, U.S.A.
• Heike Fiedler, author, performer, Switzerland
• Torgeir Rebolledo Pedersen, poet, Norway
• Vladimir Marku, poet, Albania
• Aju Mukhopadhyay, poet, India
• Jüri Talvet, poet, Estonia
• Mario Castro, poet, Chile
• Ostap Slyvynsky, poet and translator, Ukraine
• Winston Farrell, poet, Barbados
• Senem Gokel, poet, Cyprus
• Cristian Avecillas, poet, Ecuador
• Erling Kittelsen, poet, Norway
• Daniel Freidemberg, poet, Argentina
• Robin S Ngangom, poet, India
• Erik Arellana Bautista, poet, Colombia, Germany
• Daniela Dante, poet, Italy
• Gabriel Rosenstock, poet, Ireland
• Jack Foley, poet, U.S.A.
• Mohammad Taghi Khavari, poet, Iran
• Rafiq Kathwari, poet, Kashmir, U.S.A.
• Waqas Khwaja, poet, Pakistan
• Ronnie Hawkins, poet, Colombia
• Marino Santalucia, poet, Italy
• Sonia Maioli, poet, Italy
• Maria Elena Mesa Mejia, poet, Cuba
• Rosario Napoli, poet, Italy
• Daniel Acevedo, poet, Colombia
• Basir Ahang, poet, Hazaristan, Italy
• Silvia Miguens, writer, Argentina
• Kala Ramesh, Poet, India
• Henry MBA Mellem, poet, Togo, Cameroon
• Synnøve Persen, Sami poet, Norway
• William Alfaro, poet, El Salvador
• William Allegrezza, poet, U.S.A.
• Anna Lombardo, poet, Italy
• Sergio Badilla Castillo, poet, academic and journalist, Chile
• Víctor Manuel Pinto, poet, Venezuela
• Robert Max, poet, Colombia
• Subodh Sarkar, Bengali poet, India
• Giuseppe Napolitano, poet, editor and organizer of international poetry meeting, Italy
• Alessandro Assiri, poet, Italy
• Diane Lefer, poet and fiction writer, U.S.A.
• Silvana Berki, poet, Finland
• Julio César Pavanetti Gutiérrez, poet, Uruguay,Spain
• Christopher Okemwa, poet, Kenya
• Alfredo Luna, poet, Argentina
• Enrica Borrini, poet, Italy
• Dimitar Anakiev, poet, filmmaker and activist, Slovenia
• Fabrizio Arrighi, poet, Italy
• Richard Krawiec, poet, U.S.A.
• Antanas A. Jonynas, poet, Lithuania
• Julio Salgado, poet, Argentina
• Juan Cameron, poet, Chile
• Alina Beatrice Chesca, poet, Romania
• Aubin Alongnifal, poet and researcher in public law, Cameroon
• Yiorgos Chouliaras, poet, Greece
• Claudio Amancio Suarez, poet, Argentina
• Ernesto P. Santiago, poet, Philippines
• Joy Harjo, poet, musician, writer, performer, U.S.A.
• Hilde Susan Jaegtnes, screenwriter and poet, Norway
• Rhyme Sonny, poet, Ghana
• Santiago B. Villafania, poet, Philippines
• Tamer Öncül, poet, Cyprus
• Ricardo Luis Plaul, poet, Argentina
• Marta Ortiz, poet, Argentina
• Gertrude Fester, poet, South Africa
• Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, poet, South Africa
• Lucía Revuelta, poet, Peru
• Carlos Manuel Rivera, poet-performer, Puerto Rico
• Karla Coreas, Poet, translator, and Director Latin American Poetry Festival in New York
• Teresa Orbegoso, poet, Peru
• Roberto Masiero, writer and poet, Italy
• Hashem Javadzadeh, poet, painter and photographer, Iran
• Marry Ailonieida Somby, Sami writer, Norway
• Jan Erik Vold, poet, Norway
• Adjei Agyei-Baah, poet, and founder of Poetry Foundation, Africa Haiku Network, Ghana
• Umar Timol, poet, Mauritius
• Hanan Awwad, poet and president of Palestine PEN, Palestine
• C.K. Stead, poet, New Zealand
• Ostap Nožak, poet, Ukraine, Poland
• Teresa Mei Chuc, poet, U.S.A.
• Marjorie Evasco, Philippines
• Hawad, poet, Amazigh Tuareg
• Benny Franklin , poet, Brazil
• Zeravan Silevani, poet, Kurdistan
• Daniel De Culla, poet, writer and photographer, Spain
• Omar Ardila, poet and essayist, Colombia
• Abdul Milazi, poet, author and musician, Johannesburg, South Africa
• Anandi Fernandez, poet, Argentina, India
• Eduardo Llanos Melussa, poet, Chile.
• Germain Droogenbroodt, poet, Belgium, Spain
• Birgitta Jonsdottir, Poetician/parliamentarian for the Pirate Party in the Icelandic Parliament
• Bernard Noël, poet and writer, France
• Helene Laprevotte, writer, France
• Ersi Sotiropoulos, poet and writer, Greece
• Fabio Barcellandi, poet, Italy
• Hernán Sánchez Barros, poet and writer, Argentina
• Ali-Tagba Tétérého, poet, Togo, West Africa
• Hugo Francisco Rivella, poet, Argentina
• Kozeta Zavalani, poet, journalist, writer and publisher, Albania
• Piccolo, poet and editor of the literary journal lamacchinasognante.com, U.S.A.
• Barbara Poga?nik, poet, translator and literary critic, Slovenia

……………………………………………………………

An Open Letter from the Poets World-wide to the Hazara, Civil and Human Rights Organizations, Immigration Authorities, and World Leaders Download PDF version of this document

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Hazara Predicament

admin — 2015-07-12T15:07:36Z

By Roohullah Gulzari, a human rights activist

A couple of years ago, I showed works of art by my friend Ramzan Ali Hazara, a graduate of the National College of Arts, to another friend from university. He looked at them and was quite amazed at the brilliant skills displayed by Ramzan in his paintings.

“But why does his entire collection show loss and violence? I am sure he would do great if he painted other stuff too,” my friend remarked.

My reply was simply: “How can he?”

Oddly, blame is pinned on the Hazaras for their isolation.

When Ramzan was approaching his teens, his sole worry was survival. He along with thousands of other Hazara children and youth, had seen so much violence — and that too in its ugliest form — that it had permeated his psyche.

His experience, reflected in his art, was drawn from a society where survival takes precedence over all other worries.

Two years later, the remarks of my art critic friend were, in a way, reflected in the statement of a politician thought to be wise and responsible. “They want to remain in isolation,” said Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch, in an interview to the BBC some months ago. They don't want to come out of their ghettos, he indicated. The chief minister was talking about the Hazara Shia community of Balochistan. It is a community that has been continuously targeted for the past one decade. Hundreds upon hundreds have been killed with impunity in targeted killings, suicide attacks and car bombings in Quetta.

Students, fruit and vegetable vendors, pilgrims, political activists, traders, intellectuals and sportsmen — every segment of this community has been targeted but what a pity that they still want to remain ‘isolated' and ‘ghettoised'. Can't they see that there is life, replete with opportunities, bliss and blessings that so far they have not experienced? What kind of people are they who don't like freedom?

Of course, there is no sense in this because what he said and implied was not true. The remarks were passed in a way so as to suggest that the provincial government had been doing everything to quell terrorism, and that the Hazaras should also do something to find a solution to their current predicament. And what has the government done so far to redress matters? It has said that Hazara pilgrims should get clearance from the provincial government before embarking on their perilous journey.

It is ironical that permission to leave the ghetto doesn't count as restriction on movement and blame is pinned on the persecuted community for their isolation. It is so unworthy of him to play the ‘blame the victim' game. Rather than apprehending the culprits who kill with impunity and then bravely hold their public congregation ‘celebrating the century' (the 100-plus victims of the Alamdar Road blast), Dr Malik Baloch has continued with the policy of confinement of the community with check posts around the ‘ghetto'.

A major factor contributing to this approach is the unwillingness of society to comprehend this sorry saga in its entirety. Our understanding of the issue is still very limited. Whenever the word ‘Hazara' is mentioned by the media, it is all about numbers. Five Hazaras killed. One hundred-plus Hazaras killed. That is what is needed to talk about the ongoing miseries of an entire community.

The total number of people killed has included some brilliant individuals. Syed Abrar Hussain Hazara was a professional boxer and represented Pakistan in three Olympic events. He was an Asian Games gold medallist. His fate was sealed in June 2011 when he was killed by armed assailants in broad daylight. Someone who represented Pakistan for years and years was reduced to a mere statistic, one among thousands. The killers took away his life, but the desensitisation of society killed his identity.

Then there were brilliant artists like Husain Ali Yusufi and Abid Ali Nazish, intuitive minds that lie buried in the Hazara graveyard. And who doesn't know Irfan Ali Khudi?

Apart from these professional achievers, the numbers include hardworking fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and children.

Gul Goh Qabbah

There was a time when Hazaras were known throughout Pakistan as a community that produced some of the finest sportsmen: boxers, football players, badminton and squash players.

To a large extent, this has come to a halt. People used to play, artists used to paint, poets used to write about love and singers would create magic.

Now art on canvas is dominated by the overarching theme of violence. Now poets write eulogies, and singers sing with hoarse voices in memory of the departed. It is the heinous murder of a culture by an indifferent society.

Everyday-life – Art work by Miniaturist Ramzan Ali

Years from now, somewhere and sometime when reason defeats unreason and serenity prevails, the author of history won't be merciful on the rulers of this time, rulers who strangulated a lively civilisation — a civilisation where once art, music, sports and creativity thrived. It is unpardonable.

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Joeys-selection-caps-roar-teens-amazing-journey

admin — 2015-07-10T13:58:19Z

By Brisbane Roar

Hazara Roar player Rahmat Akbari has been named in the Joeys squad aiming to qualify for the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup.

Brisbane Roar's Hazara teenager Rahmat Akbari is living the Australian football dream.

The 15-year-old from Edens Landing has been named in a national squad to begin preparing for qualification for the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in India.

He will travel with Tony Vidmar's Joeys to Cambodia later this month to play games as a warm up to the first qualifying matches in September.

“This is a proud moment for me and my family as Australians,” Rahmat said.

“I can't wait to put on the green and gold for the first time.”

Rahmat's is one of five children for dad Ghulam and mum Hakema Sharefi.

The family is from a small village near Jaghori in the central highlands of Afghanistan.

Ghulam and Hakema and their four children at the time, including Rahmat who was a newborn, fled Afghanistan in 2001.

They spent some time in Pakistan before migrating to Australia in 2005.

Ghulam says football has been really important in helping the family build its new life in Australia.

“If we were still in Afghanistan or Pakistan this would never have happened,” he said.

“Back there we couldn't even go to a proper school or get educated.

“When we came here we got the chance to attend a good school and be taught by good teachers and follow our dreams as well.

“Rahmat wants to be a professional footballer. If we hadn't come to Australia, we couldn't even dream of such a thing. We are very proud of what he has achieved.”

Rahmat plays as an attacking midfielder or forward in the Brisbane Roar/Queensland Academy of Sport under-18 side in the PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues Queensland.

He has scored 17 goals so far this season including eight in his last two matches.

The Beenleigh Lions and Logan Lightning junior product is a fan of Real Madrid and Manchester United and dreams of one day playing at the highest levels of world football.

Rahmat's selection delighted his coach at the Roar, Josh McCloughan, although he adds there is still a lot of work ahead.

“Rahmat has worked extremely hard this season and deserves his reward,” McCloughan said.

“The club is very proud of him and will continue to invest in his future development.”

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