Email and Address of UN Authorities

The Conference in Bonn - A Step In The Right Direction

The conference under the auspices of the United Nations now being concluded in Bonn, Germany is a major step in the right direction. We the Hazara of Europe and North America, wholeheartedly support the United Nations efforts in this noble cause, to help bring peace to war-torn Afghanistan.  We hope that this conference and the subsequent administration of Afghanistan would succeed in their efforts. The Hazaras as the peace-loving people of Afghanistan would do everything possible to help the new administration in Afghanistan succeed. We have some suggestions for safeguarding the interest of the people who in the past have been subject to brutal mistreatments and human rights violations because of their ethnic and religious background or their gender.

1-     The new administration should reflect and represent the true ethnic makeup of the country. The Hazaras as one of the main ethnic groups which constitute about 25 to 35 percent of the country, should be represented according to their presence. We have painful memories of exclusions from the political as well as military and economic scenes of the country. The new administration should correct the past mistakes and with a lesson from them move towards a united Afghanistan, where every man and woman from every community without any discrimination of any kind is included in the process of rebuilding the country and living in peace and harmony.

2-     The country should be built as a federated state with the four main ethnic groups forming the four states with Kabul as the capital. The four major ethnic groups should be given equal opportunity to decide about the future of the country. No one ethnic group should be given the overall control of the country, regardless of its size. We have painful memories of being ruled by this or that group who had no concern for the welfare of our region or our people and who at times with the power of the central government plundered our region and  brutalized our people.

3-     The right of women should be fully restored and they should be included in every aspect of the life in the country. We cannot have justice in a society when more than half of the population is excluded from having a normal life and worse yet, put under virtual house arrest, as was the case with the Taliban regime. Any administration or arrangement is only legitimate when it respects the rights of all of its citizens regardless of gender, ethnicity or belief.

4-     The society should be built on secular principles and modern laws should govern the affairs of the country and state, not some twisted interpretation of religion where terrorising the society would be justified in the name of religion. We are in the process of getting rid of the world's perhaps most backward theocracy that the human memory can remember. This inhuman regime should be a lesson for all those who try to use religion as a tool for their own interests.

5-     The society should be built on democratic values where every man and woman would have the opportunity to take part in the process of reconstruction of country and society. All forms of freedom: freedom of speech, press, gatherings, religion and beliefs etc. should be respected and nobody should be persecuted for his or her belief or ideas.

6-     An international tribunal such as the one in the Hague for the former Yugoslavia or in Tanzania for the trial of the Hutus accused of genocide in Rwanda should be established. All those who took part in the ethnic cleansings, massacres, mass displacements and scorch earth policies in Afghanistan should be brought to justice.

The people of Afghanistan especially the Hazaras have suffered too much for too long under this or that pretext and it is time that with the help of a neutral organization such the United Nations and with the help of freedom and peace loving people of the west the people of Afghanistan are given the chance to have a decent life under a new democratic and pluralistic society.

We do hope with all sincerity that justice and fairness are practised in all the proceedings of the UN sponsored peace efforts for Afghanistan. We thank the United Nations and the Western coalition led by the United States of America for helping us get rid of the evil of terrorism and its sponsors, the Taliban, and establishing a modern and democratic state. 

With Best Wishes And Hope For A United Free and Independent Afghanistan

The Hazaras In The Diaspora

The Hazara Union of Denmark 

[Union in Defense of Freedom and Justice in Afghanistan]
The Hazaras of America and Europe

         Hazara Student Federation (HSF), Pakistan
 

Website: http://www.hazara.net