Senior cleric condemns expulsion of Hazaras from Pakistan
Chairman of Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM) Pakistan, Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafari, has warned in his condemnation statement on social media platform X that the attempt to expel the Pakistani Hazara community from the country under the guise of evacuation of Afghan refugees will create a new crisis in the country.
He said that the Hazara community has been living in the country for many generations, adding that, “Putting our own citizens on the list of refugees will fuel national, linguistic and religious prejudice.”
Allama Jafari emphasized that, “Some invisible forces are deliberately creating a crisis in the country. Those in power should be aware and Pakistan’s Hazara community should be protected.”
There are up to 1 million Hazara Shias living in Pakistan, of which 0.7 million live in Balochistan, according to a 2022 report by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Report.
The Hazara community has been historically harassed by governments and radical movements.
During the reign of Amir Abdur Rahman (1880–1901), millions of Hazaras were massacred, expelled, and displaced. Sayed Askar Mousavi, a contemporary Hazara writer, claimed that half the population of Hazarajat were killed or fled to neighboring regions of Balochistan in British India and Khorasan in Iran.
On the morning of 12 April 2019, a horrific bombing took place in an open-air marketplace in a neighbourhood where many members of Shi’a Hazara community lived in Quetta that killed at least 16 people and wounded several others.
The Hazara Shia have been targeted over many years by Sunni extremists. According to a 2019 report by Pakistan’s National Commission for Human Rights, an independent watchdog, at least 509 Hazara have been murdered for their faith since 2013.
A UK parliamentary commission said that, due to their religious beliefs and their distinct facial features, the Hazara population in Afghanistan are facing persecution from the Taliban, as well as structural violence, neglect and complicity from the Afghan State, which further exacerbates their situation.
