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| Afghanistan |
| Persecution of ethnic Pashtuns continues in northern Afghanistan |
| 2002-07-28 |
| The position of ethnic Pashtuns is particularly precarious. While Pashtuns form a majority of the population in the country as a whole, they are a minority in the north, which is dominated by ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras. Moreover, whether or not they supported the Taliban, they are nevertheless identified with the fundamentalist militia, which derived the bulk of its support from southern Pashtun tribes. Could be because when they were on top they engaged in murder, rape, robbery, extortion, and random sadism... In the late 1990s, fighting between the Taliban and the various militias now comprising the Northern Alliance left a bitter legacy of ethnic animosity, the result of appalling atrocities on all sides. Very even-handed description. The Pashtuns tried to wipe out the Hazaras... With no militia of their own, ethnic Pashtuns in northern Afghanistan, many of whom have roots going back generations, have been the subject of torture, rape and murder. The extent of the violence was brought to light in a lengthy Human Rights Watch report published in April entitled âPaying for the Talibanâs Crimes: Abuses Against Ethnic Pashtuns in Northern Afghanistanâ. Based on eyewitness accounts, the report described how Pashtun villages were attacked after being disarmed by local militia commanders. Some families were stripped of their personal possessions; others were beaten and tortured. There were also some cases of rape. All this has to stop if Afghanistan is ever to become a civilized country. But you don't hear of hundreds and even thousands being killed at a go under the new regime, and the atrocities aren't policy. It's the usual Human Rights Watch policy of holding the regime to a theoretical standard of perfection that's never been achieved within the country, rather than pointing out how much better things are and congratulating them, while acknowledging that there is still a way to go... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |