Hazara Nation

Following this success, exorbitant taxes, and general oppression were once again the rule in Hazaristan. Added to this, the area became a center for the slave trade, and for the first time, the government introduced special taxes for slave trading. Hazara slaves were being offered so cheaply, that a slave could bought for 10 seers of wheat or barley (Faiz, 1912 vol.3:863). Furthermore, the inability to pay exorbitant government fines and taxes soon forced many Hazaras to sell their own wives and children as slavesBribery and looting of Hazara property by Pashtun officials had become regular and expected, and had reached a point where the government in Kabul decided to take steps to curb these excesses. In certain instances, such as the case of Mir Ata Khan, who had received 163,260 rupees in bribes and had stolen its equivalent in animas and goods, the charged official was forced to pay the major portion of that into the state treasury. Mir Ata Khan was in turn allowed to keep 11,280 rupees, some land and 18 and 18 female slaves (ibid:853-855). Massacres, slavery, heavy taxes amid general destruction had reached such a level in Hazaristan that the very existence of the Hazara peoples were endangered, a threat acknowledged even by one of the government’s own high ranking officials (ibid:855)

In January 1893, Abdur Rahman ordered all his Afghan commanders in Hazaristan to collect and dispatch to Kabul, the names of all Hazara Mirs, Sayids, Khans, Begs, and religious and non-religious leaders, along with the names of members of their families, regardless of whether they had taken part in the uprisings or not (ibid:862). This aroused once again the anger and hatred of the Hazaras towards the pasthuns. Disobeying orders, Pashtun officials instead either dispatched number of Hazaras to Kabul or tortured and executed them.

This upsurge in violence once again incited and ignited the flames of rebellion. Although the grounds for the uprising of 1893 had already been laid in the autumn of 1892, the events of early 1893 mobilized rebellion. The rebellion first began amongst the Day Zangi, Behsud, and Day Kundi people and soon spread to most parts of Hazaristan, finally reaching Kabul from where it spread to Daulat Yar, Bamiyan, Ghour, Ajaristan and Mazar-e Sharif.

The reasons for this second rebellion are clearly stated in a letter to Abdur Rahman by the leader of the rebellion: the unjust treatment of the Hazaras by Afghan commanders and soldiers; exorbitant and numerous unwarranted taxes; assaults on Hazara women; the massacre of innocent Hazaras; the looting and pillaging of homes; enslavement of Hazara children, women and men; abuses of religious and social leaders, and the accusation against Shi’a Hazaras of godlessness, and the replacement of Shi’a Mullahs by their Sunni counterparts. The letter also clearly maintains that even those Hazaras who surrendered without resistance and others who fought as loyal soldiers on the side of the regime, such as many of the Behsud, Day Zangi, Day Kundi, and Gouri clans, were not spared this treatment either. The letter concludes that, in order to survive and free themselves from slavery, the Hazara people were forced to take up armed rebellion and resistance against the government (ibid:891). The letter clearly demonstrates that despite all the massacres and oppression of their people in 1892, the Hazaras remained resistant to slavery and oppression.

The Amir of Kabul, taken by surprise at the response of the Hazaras, showed no initial reaction. Consequently, the rebel Hazaras were soon able to expand their territory and to gain ever-increasing control over Hazaristan through successive and successful offensives on government garrisons and the recovery of needed arms. The emergency forces sent from Bamiyan were also soon defeated. Once again government officials were forced to abandon their posts in Hazaristan and take refuge in Kabul. Soon, all strategic roads to Kabul fell under the control of the rebels, who dug trenches all along the route and prepared to launch their assault on Kabul. The rebellion had once again spread throughout Hazaristan.

In response, Abdur Rahman published a notice, entitled “A call to the Hazara People”, with which he intended to drive a rift between the leaders of the rebellion. This he succeeded in achieving; soon disagreement arose over whether or not armed rebellion was the right course of action. Some leaders, such as Mohammad Riza Beg, believed that armed rebellion risked total annihilation of their tribe and so was dangerous. He subsequently changed sides and fought alongside government forces against the rebels. (Temirkhanov, 1980:160).

Using this weakness in the enemy camp, Abdur Rahman began his offensive in April 1893. After suffering heavy losses, government forces finally broke through the rebel blockade of road and valleys and entered Hazaristan. The Hazaras resisted fiercely and totally destroyed some government battalions, while others, such as the battalion from Herat, lost as much as 85 percent of its men (ibid:163). Fresh government reinforcements, however, were soon brought in and the war and its atrocities heightened. According to Faiz Mohammad, hundreds of decapitated Hazara heads were sent to Bamyan and other cities daily (Faiz, 1912, Vol.3.898).

The war continued in this manner for months, during which time the Hazaras fought determinedly and fiercely, and succeeded in inflicting enormous damage on Abdur Rahman’s forces. The end came in the summer of 1893, when Abdur Rahman recalled his forces from Hazaristan and was forced to concede to the rebel’s demands, and grant Hazaristan special privileges (Temirkhanov, 1980:166). At the same time, faced with shortages of food and the prospect of famine, poverty, and the cost of and losses of the war, the Hazaras also began considering negotiation. After a long meeting, representatives were dispatched to Kabul to negotiate with Abdur Rahman; members of several Pashtun families were kept as hostages should Abdur Rahman stop negotiation and detain the representatives. After much discussion, and recognition on the part of the government of the rights of the Hazaras, the latter pledged allegiance to the Amir. thus the final Hazara uprising was settled.

"Those captured I had blown from the guns. The total number punished in this way, during three years of the rebellion, amounted to 5,000. Those killed by my army were about 10,000" (Abdur Rahman, in his biography. )

According to Temirkhanov, after the end of the war, the Hazaras divided into 3 groups:

1. Mirs who accepted the conditions of the Amir of Kabul, numbering some 10,000 families.
2. Hazaras who had no faith in the Amir’s promises and did not trust him, but who were not strong enough to resist. These numbered some 15,000 families, and they chose to migrate to neighboring countries, such as Iran and British India, Pakistan today.
3. Hazaras who neither trusted the Amir nor wanted to leave and so carried on their resistance to the Amir(ibid:167)

As a result of the stand taken by this third group, fighting continued until November 1893. The outcome, however, had long ago become clear. Finally, as those rebels who had continued their resistance laid down their arms at the end of 1893, the uprising came to a conclusive end.