25 years ago, on August 8, 1998, the Taliban group, with the connivance of Hizb-e-Islami, massacred Hazaras in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. According to the reports of human rights organisations and eyewitnesses, about 2000 to 8000 Hazaras were massacred.
Human Rights Watch’s report on the genocide of Hazaras is the first report that was published a month after that tragedy. A part of this report stated: “Reports show that during the house-to-house search, hundreds of Hazara men and children were killed, apparently to make sure that they would not be able to resist the Taliban.” A witness told Human Rights Watch that In some cases, arrested male members of families were beaten or shot on the spot. The throats of some were cut, While most of those killed were Hazaras.
Mullah Niazi was responsible for this genocide. When he entered the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, he gave a speech to the Hazaras in the city’s great mosque, giving them three options: changing their religion, being killed by the taliban, or running away. Besides, he called the Hazaras infidels and ordered their murder. Eyewitnesses have said that the Taliban were repeatedly shooting everyone in the city with PK machine guns, and the sound echoed and screams were heard all around the place.
Mullah Niazi had ordered his subordinates to show no mercy to anyone and to kill everyone. For this reason, more than thousands of people, including women and children, were massacred by the Taliban.
The massacre of Mazar-i-Sharif was a full-scale genocide, as the motivation behind it was ethnicity and religion. Before the Taliban captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif for the second time, the Hizb-e-Vahdat forces had left their strongholds and were all fugitives; therefore, there have been no traces of resistance against the Taliban, and it cannot be considered part of war crimes.
Now 25 years have passed since that genocide, but this genocide is still going on, and the Taliban group is slowly and silently genocidating the Hazaras.
