NAJAF: Many Afghans from the Hazara ethnic minority studying in Iraq’s city of Najaf watched in terror as their homeland fell back into Taliban hands.
And while they feel safe for now, they fear for their families back home and for their own safety should they ever return.
Millions of Shiite pilgrims come each year to Najaf to mourn the death of the Prophet Mohammed’s son-in-law Ali, whose mausoleum stands in the old city.
Others, like Sheikh Ali Bassir, 51, have spent years studying at the prestigious seminary that trains Shiite clergy.
“I wanted to serve the people of Afghanistan so much, I want to go back, but the situation isn’t normal,” Bassir says, surrounded by shelves bearing copies of the Koran while a ceiling fan turns above.
His serene smile turns wooden as he considers the fate of the Hazara people, who make up between 10 and 20 per cent of Afghanistan’s 38 million people and have been long persecuted for their faith in a country riven by deep divisions.
With the Taliban back in control since last month, the majority Shiite Muslim group is worried the Sunni hardliners may again turn on them just as happened during the Taliban’s previous 1996-2001 rule.
Thousands of Hazaras were believed to have been slaughtered by the militants.
Images of the destruction of two massive Buddha statues carved into a cliff in the largely Hazara province of Bamiyan went around the world in March 2001.
Just days after the Taliban’s return, the statue of a prominent Hazara leader in Bamiyan was decapitated.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/afghanistans-hazara-a-long-persecuted-minority-living-in-fear-of-taliban/articleshowprint/86190397.cms
