Hazara community demonstrates at Lincoln capitol building

Map showing the location of Hazara Division within Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one of the four provinces of Pakistan.

Members of the Hazara community held a peaceful demonstration at the Lincoln state capitol building on Monday, Oct 17. The protest was in response to a terrorist suicide bombing at an private tutoring center in Kabul, Afganistan that was targeted the Hazara community.

The demonstration was organized by the Hazara community in Nebraska. Juma Nazari, a board member for the Hazara community in Nebraska made the following statement in an interview with KLKN. “There are demonstrations across over 100 cities. We have thousands of people around the world that gather together regardless of their religions, regardless of their ethnicity, and ask to stop Hazara genocide.”

Speakers at the event included Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen and several speakers who gave speeches in their native language. Hazaras speak a dialect of Dari called Hazaragi, which is a Persian language.

The terrorist attack that prompted the protest occured on September 30, killed 53 and injured 110 individuals. The attack took place at the Kaj educational center in a predominantly Hazara neighborhood. The attack took place as students were taking a practice university entrance exam. When the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021, many women were barred from receiving secondary education. The Kaj education center is a private institution that was attempting to help women achieve their education goals.

After the attack, there were protests across Afghanistan in the cities of Kabul, Mazar-i Sharif, and Herat, led by female university students. The Taliban broke up the protests and have been accused of beating and shooting at protestors.

Hazaras face an imminent threat with the Taliban ruling Afghanistan again. Within Afghanistan, the Hazaras have faced systematic discrimation, targeted violence, and forced displacement for centuries. When the Taliban was in power from 1996 to 2001, Hazaras were specifically targeted in events such as a massacre during August 1998 that killed over 2,000 individuals in Mazar-i Sharif. Since the Taliban has taken control of Afghanistan again, the Hazaras have faced an escalation of violence and discrimination and have no legal protection. 

The Hazara population is both an ethnic and religious minority in Afghanistan. They practice Shi’a Islam, specifically the Twelver Imami school which is also known as Jafari. Hazara’s used to be the majority ethnic group in Afghanistan, making up two thirds of the population before the 19th century. But an estimated half of the Hazara population was masacred, enslaved, and fled during a genocide that took place from 1892 to 1893 and was led by the Amir of Kabul Abdur Rahman Khan.

By: Aubrey Benton