Hazara nationalism

Hazara nationalism is a movement that claims the Hazara people, an ethnic group native to the Hazaristan region of Afghanistan, are a distinct nation and deserve a nation-state of their own. The movement propagates the view that Muslims are not a nation and that ethnic loyalty must surpass religious loyalty, though this view has been challenged by both the 1890s independence uprisings of Hazaristan and the systematic discrimination many Hazaras have historically faced within Afghanistan.^[1]

Hazara ethnicity and nationalism

Hazara nationalism stems from lingual and ancestral roots in the Hazaristan region in the modern-day central Afghanistan.

The movement claims to receive considerable support from the Hazara diaspora in Australia, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, United States, Canada and other countries. Successive Pashtun-dominated Afghan governments have repeatedly made claims that the Hazara nationalists have received funding from Iran,^[2] despite the fact that the Hazara nationalists are against the Iranian regime, and have criticized the theocratic regime on many occasions for discrimination against the Hazara people in Iran. According to them, these accusations are the usual propaganda tactic that the Pashtun-dominated governments use against the Hazara people.^[3][4]

Modern Hazara nationalism

Hazara nationalism in its modern form began in the form of the 1888–1893 Hazara uprisings and 1890s (Organisation for Unity of the Hazara) based in Hazaristan, led by Hazara elders and allies. The aim of the group was to establish political and constitutional reform in the Hazaristan region; and an end to the military despotism of Abdur Rahman of the Barakzai dynasty^[5] for the eventual unification of all Hazara lands into an independent state.^[6] In 1985, simultaneously with the formation of the Hezbe Wahdat, Hazara intellectuals in Mazare Sharif, formed a nationalist organisation, called the Hazara Unity.^[7]

There was a revival of Hazara nationalism after the Balkhab uprising, led by Mehdi Mujahid in 2022. In his own words, Mehdi left the Taliban and began rebelling as a result of persecution of Shia Muslims and Hazaras.^[8]

Hazara nationalists

• Mir Yazdanbakhsh
• Ibrahim Gawsawar
• General Musa Khan
• Sultan Ali Keshtmand
• Abdul Ali Mazari
• Commander Shafi Hazara
• Sarwar Sarkhosh
• Dawood Sarkhosh
• Aziz Royesh
• Daoud Naji
• Abbas Noyan
• Ahmad Behzad
• Mehdi Mujahid

See also

• Hazararat

References

1. Rastgar, Barakat (24 December 2014). "The Hazara Nationalism in Music and Historical Literature". Kabul Press.
2. "Ethnic nationalism and the plight of the Hazaras". Daily Times. 10 November 2013.
3. http://www.hazarapeople.com/2012/06/01/hazara-activists-demonstrate-against-iranian-regime/Hazara activists demonstrate against Iranian regime
4. http://www.hazarapeople.com/2011/10/05/discrimination-against-hazara-people-in-iran/Discrimination^{[permanent dead link‍]} against the Hazara people in Iran
5. http://hazararights.com/spip.php?article35/An Open Letter from the Poets World-wide to the Hazara, Civil and Human Rights Organizations, Immigration Authorities, and World Leaders
6. Hazara Nationalism: Its Origin and Development, Abdul Ali Mazari 1933
7. "The Hazara Nationalism: in Music and Historical Literature". www.hazarapeople.com.
8. Goldbaum, Christina; Rahim, Najim; Hayeri, Kiana (2022-08-18). "The Bloody Uprising Against the Taliban Led by One of Their Own". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-08-21.