Hazara minority facing persecution in Afghanistan, Pakistan: Woman Activist

Mar 08, 2020

Geneva (Switzerland), Mar 08 (ANI): A Hazara woman activist has demanded an urgent intervention by international community to protect the minority community facing persecution in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Derakhshan Qurban Ali, a human rights activist, shows concern over rising sectarian and terrorist attacks by the Taliban, ISIS and other Sunni extremist grounds on Hazara minority. Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of 43rd session of UN Human Rights Council, Derakhshan condemned the Friday’s (March 06) deadly attack on Hazaras in Kabul, in which 32 people were killed and dozens injured. The commemoration ceremony attended by top political leaders of Afghanistan was held to remember Abdul Ali Mazari, a Shia leader who was killed by the Taliban in 1995. ISIS claimed responsibility of the attack, which was carried out week after a peace deal signed by the Taliban and the United States. Derakhshan said, “This is an issue that is greatly concerning not just for Hazaras, for all Afghans, for all of the international community. This peace deal is signed this week and within the week there have already attacks on the Afghan national security and also Hazara minorities.” She added, “The concerning part is this, the fact that neither the Afghan government nor the Taliban are able to ensure security for the future of the country, especially not for the Hazara minority for being attacked both by the Taliban and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). The fact that the country has been handed over to the Taliban, a group that is historically been persecuting Hazara minority groups for their ethnicity but also for their Shia faith that in itself is concerning for so many reasons”.