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DIMIA,
Hazara people and the “genuine” issue In the past few years a new word “genuine” became part of Australian Immigration Department vocabulary. This word became an excuse and brought a rationale relief for the Immigration Department’s refugee application processing officers not to examine properly every application. Now they can reject any application on the “genuine or non-genuine” basis. Unfortunately this word was used with all Afghan cases but especially with Afghan Hazara applications. I think without knowing the Hazara’s history in Afghanistan it is impossible to understand the issue of “genuine” or “non genuine” refugee. I will try in few paragraphs to give a little understanding of Hazara history, which will help to understand the background of this issue. Afghanistan has four main ethnic groups; Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara and Uzbek. Afghanistan official language is Dari and Pashtu, and the religion is Muslim (Sunni). The Shi’a Muslim population is about 15%. Hazaras are one of the four main ethnic groups of Afghanistan. They are the native people of Afghanistan and live in the central part of Afghanistan, which is called Hazarajat. Their Mongol feature separates them from the rest of the other nations of Afghanistan. The Hazara population is about 27.5 percent in Afghanistan. They are unique because they consist of three different sects of Islam i.e Shi’a, Sunni and Ismailia but collectively Hazara people are perceived as Shi’a. Hazara people have a long history as victims of oppression and prejudice. Pashtuns and the Kabul government have persecuted them for centuries. However, the period of King Amir Abdul Rahman (1880-1901) in the past century was the worst because he officially declared Hazara people as infidels. This decree legitimized the massacre of Hazara people and nearly 60% of their people were butchered and forced to migrate to the neighbouring countries Pakistan and Iran. He maintained his brutality in every aspect of Hazara People lives. One indication of the prejudice against Hazara people in Afghanistan that, in this modern age there is no school in Hazarajat. They are suffering from linguistic, racial and religious prejudice everywhere in Afghanistan. They were treated as third class citizens until 1978. In the 1960s the few Hazaras who could manage to get to Kabul University became a part of a political movement and formed a Maoist organization, named the New Democratic Movement and became famous as “Sho’layees” (flame). Their publication was called Sho’laye Jawid (immortal flame). They had a great impact on the politicization of the Hazaras and paved the way for Hazara people to be part of the political system and encouraged them to join political movements. In April 1978, the Moscow backed Revolutionary government with a motto of ‘Equity and Fraternity’ specially attracted the Hazara population compared with other people in Afghanistan. But the chauvinist policies and approach of President Hafizullah Amin soon converted into despondency and aversion and as a reaction the whole Hazarajat came into direct confrontation with the Kabul government. Later on the friendly relations and pragmatic policies of President Babrak Karmal and Dr. Najibullah brought Hazara people close to the Kabul government and for the first time in Afghan history a Hazara named Sultan Ali Kishtmand became the Prime Minister of Afghanistan. In 1991 the Mujahidin took control of the Kabul government and overthrew the Najibullah government. Once again the political situation became worse for the Hazara population because the Islamic parties, for example Gulbuddin Hikmatyar’s Hizbi Islami, Burhanuddin Rabbani’s Jamiat-i-Islami, Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi’s Harakat- Inqalab-I-Islami and other so-called Islamic groups again declared Hazara people as infidels and polytheists. Hazara people have been the target of brutal massacre in Afghan history but the worst anti Hazara movement began with the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban Governor of Mazar Sharif Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, in his public speech said that Hazara people have three options; either leave the country, convert to the Sunni sect of Islam or be prepared to die. Under the Taliban fighting techniques thousands of young Hazara were used as a landmine detector and their families suffered imprisonment and death. Taliban invited leaders of Hazara people for negotiation and disguised and killed them. They killed the prominent leader of Hazara people Abdul Ali Mazari and his delegation as well. They butchered thousands of innocent Hazaras in Kabul, Mazar-ISahraf, and Yakaulang and in Bameyan. Hazara families were compelled to arrange journeys for their loved ones especially young men to leave their homeland. The Taliban destroyed the world’s tallest, biggest and oldest statues of Buddha as well. Australia is not a new country for Afghans. The First generation of Afghans came as a camel driver [pioneer] a hundred years ago and took part in the building of this country. A Second generation came during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The third generation came as the notorious boat people that fled their country because of ethnic, racial and religious problems with the Taliban. They put their lives at risk and travelled on wretched leaky boats to seek refuge anywhere in the world. Many of them ended up in Australian Detention Centres. After a long process many of them got Temporary Protection Visa but a few remain in detention because they could not prove themselves as “genuine” refugees. If we look in Australian Immigration history the word “genuine” was not publicized that much until 1999 and afterward. After the arrival of Young Hazara Afghanis in Australia during this period, this so called “genuine” issue became a common way of refusing their refugee application. It raises the question why now? Or what does genuine mean? And the question is very simple. Hazara people had and have religious, racial and ethnicity problems in Afghanistan and they are suffering from these problems in Australia as well. Those Afghans (Pashtun and Tajik) with who Hazara people have racial and religious problems in Afghanistan represented them as their interpreters in the Australian Immigration Department. Most members of the Pashtun and Tajik communities did not welcome Hazara people. They started their propaganda through interviews and letters to the media and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affair against these people saying, that they are not Afghan but Pakistanis or they came from Iran. For example in a BBC interview one Afghan woman echoed the Immigration Minister saying that, "They are queue jumpers and economic migrants," and the other Afghan woman said that, “People are eating grass in Afghanistan: how can any Afghan afford to pay all that money to people smugglers?" Most of Afghans who came to Australia during the 1980s could not erase the prejudice and intolerance against Hazara people from their hearts and minds. Although living in a society, which supposedly believes in equality and friendship unfortunately, they could not adopt the positive manners of this society. They continued consider Hazara people as their enemy and wanted to make it impossible for them to live in Australia. I am very optimistic and lets hope that our next generation will not follow those believing and they will together work for better Australia as we are doing now by getting closer day by day. References:
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