The Hazara Pioneers (1904)

The first contact between the British and the Hazaras seems to have been just before the First Afghan War, when some Hazara served in "Broadfoot's Sappers" (British Scouts) in about 1839-1840.For many years a considerable number of Hazaras used to come to India to work as laborers, particularly at heavy work such as quarrying. In 1903-1904, however, owing to extreme persecution by the Afghans, large numbers of Hazara refugees poured over the frontier. In 1904, Lord Kitchner, who at that time was Commander-in-Chief in India, directed Major C. W. Jacob to raise a battalion of Hazara Pioneers. Previous to this, the only Hazaras in the Indian Army were those enlisted in the 124th and 126th Baluchistan Infantry and a troop in the Guides Cavalry.The 106th Hazara Pioneers were raised at Quetta in 1904 by Major C. W. Jacob; a nucleus was formed by drafts from the 124th Duchess of Connaught's own and the 126th Baluchistan Infantry. The Battalion was composed of eight companies of Hazaras, and their permanent peace station was at Quetta. Their full dress uniform was drab with red facings.In 1918 the Hazaras of the 124th and the 126th Baluchistan Infantry were transferred to the 106 Hazara Pioneers, then on active service Mesopotamia. Prior to this, the Guides Cavalry had ceased to include Hazaras in their ranks. The 106th Hazara Pioneers were now the only unit in the Indian Army enlisting them.There were two changes in the title of the regiment after the 1914-1918 war. The 106th Hazara Pioneers became "The 1st Battalion 4th Pioneers" in 1922 and the "The Hazara Pioneers" in 1929. As a result of the financial crisis in 1933, all Pioneer Regiments in the Indian Army, including the Hazaras Pioneers, were disbanded.Since the 1914-1918 war, it had become increasingly difficult to recruit Hazaras from the Hazarajat; more recruits had to be taken from the Hazara colonies settled in the Mashhad area. These men, however, lacked many of the best qualities of the Hazaras enlisted from the Afghan highlands, directly. The difficulty in obtaining more of the latter was due chiefly to the change in the attitude of the Afghans towards the Hazaras who were no longer poorly treated and were now being freely enlisted in the Afghan Army. In addition, the Afghan government had requested the government of India not to continue enlisting their subjects (the Hazaras) in the Indian Army.Field Marshall Sir Claud W. Jacob was colonel of the regiment from 1916 until its disbandment in 1933.In 1915, one company served with distinction in France with the 107th Pioneers. The whole regiment was employed during 1915-1916 with the Kalat Column, and at Khwash in Sistan under General Dyer. In 1917 they served on the Mohmand Blockade Line, and sent one company to join the 128th Pioneers in Mesopotamia.In 1918, the whole regiment proceeded to Mesopotamia where, after serving for some months with the 18th Indian Division on the Tigris above Baghdad, they joined the 2nd Corps and were employed in helping the drive the railway through the Jabal Hamrin from Table Mountain on the Dajla (Tigris River).During 1919, they worked strenuously on the Shergat-Mosul Line of Communications. In the autumn they took part in the Kurdistan Operations. In 1920, they were again employed on the Shergat-Mosul Lines of Communications, completing their labors in 1921 by constructing a new road down the bank of the Tirgris from Shergat to Baji. They returned to Quetta in August 1921.During the above operations, several Indian Orders of Merit, as well as a number of Indian Distinguished Service Medals and Indian Meritorious Service Medals, were awarded to Hazaras for gallantry.During the Waziristan Operations of 1923-1924, the Hazara Pioneers took part in the road making through the Baravi Tangi and the Shahur Tangi. This was difficult work, which had to be completed against time. Afterward, they did considerable work on the railway and on frontier roads in Zhob.In 1917, due to the difficulty of enlisting a sufficient number of Hazaras from Afghanistan, the experiment was made of recruiting Baltis as a temporary measure. A recruiting party from the 106th Hazara Pioneers visited Baltistan in the late autumn of 1917. About 100 recruits were enlisted during 1917-1918 and even brought to Quetta for training, but the war ended before any of them were able to join the regiment overseas. After the armistice, nearly all these Baltis were demobilized and returned to their homes.The Hazara Pioneers were probably the best shooting regiment in the Indian Army. The men were naturally good shots and were tremendously keen. At the Divisional Rifle Meetings in Quetta, at least half the men in the battalion entered the open events and swept the board year after year. They won the Meerut Cup and King Emperor's Cup on several occasions, as well as the Carnatic Gold Cup and the Rawlinson Sheild.Although the Hazara Pioneers always had talented individual field hockey payers, it was not until after the Great War that they produced good teams. Their post-war successes were due mainly to the fact that the young soldiers from whom the teams were drawn, had been born and bred in the Hazara Lines in Quetta. They won a succession of District Hockey Tournaments and in 1926 also carried off the Western Command Hockey Cup. In the same year, two of their teams were chosen for the Indian Army hockey team, which had such a successful tour in New Zealand.

General Musa Khan Hazara

General Musa Khan Hazara was the Chief of Pakistan's Army Staff. He succeeded Field Marshal Ayub Khan, who assumed Presidency of Pakistan.He was the eldest son of Sardar Yazdan Khan, born in a Hazara family in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan. He was a Naik (Junior Officer) in Hazara Pioneers and went to the Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun as a cadet and graduated with the first batch of the Indian commissioned officers. He was posted to the 6th Royal Battalion,the 13th Frontier Force Rifles as a Platoon Commander in 1936. He took part in the Waziristan Operations in 1936-1938 and in World War II, where he served in North Africa. He served with distinction in the Pakistani Army and rose to the rank of the commander in chief of Pakistan Armed Forces during President Mohammad Ayub Khan’s regime (1958-1969).After Gen. Musa retired from the army, President Ayub Khan appointed him as the Governor of East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh) from 1967 to 1969. After serving for a few years, he retired and settled in Karachi. In 1987, he was once again involved in politics. He was appointed Governor of the Balochistan Province by the then President General Zia-ul-Haq. In Balochistan, Governor; General (Retd) Musa dissolved the provincial assembly in December 1988. However, the Balochistan High Court restored the assembly amid public condemnation of Governor's move. The step towards dissovling the assembly was believed to have been taken with the consent of the President and Prime Minister.General Mohammed Musa commanded the Army in the 1965 India - Pakistan War. He has narrated the events and experiences of the war in his book "My Version". In the book he has given accounts of the secret war that was going on in Kashmir between the two countries, long before the real war actuall began.General Musa was a simple man. He gave his opinion, then did not make it a matter of pride and remained quiet.General Musa Khan is the author of his autobiography, Jawan to General in which he describes his lifetime experiences from a simple foot-soldier rising to become a general.He died on 12 March 1991 in Quetta.

About Life of Baba Mazari

Abdul Ali Mazari was born 1946 in the village of Charkint, south of the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, in a Hazara family. Hence, the surname 'Mazari".He began his primary schooling in theology at the local school in his village, then went to Mazar-i Sharif , then Qom in Iran and then to Najaf in Iraq. Like most of the Hazaras of Afghanistan, Mazari grew up in poverty.In Iran Mazari was imprisoned and tortured after being accused of conspiracy against the Shah of Iran in assistance with Irani Shi'ite clerics.Simultaneously with the occupation of Afghanistan by the Red Army, Mazari returned to his birthplace and gained prominent place in the Anti-Soviet resistance movement. During the first years of the resistance, he lost his young brother, Mohammed Sultan, during a battle against the Soviet backed forces. He soon lost his sister and other members of his family in the resistance. His uncle, Mohammad Ja'afar, and his son, Mohammad Afzal, were imprisoned and killed by the puppet regime in Kabul. He also lost his father, Haji Khudadad, and his brother, Haji Mohammad Nabi, in the rebellion and resistance movement.Mazari was one of the founding members and the first leader of Hizb e Wahdat Islami Afghanistan (Islamic Unity Party). In the first Congress of the party he was elected leader of the Central Committee and in the second Congress, Secretary General of the Wahdat Party. Mazari's initiative led to the creation of the Jonbesh-e Shamal (Northern Movement), in which the country's most significant military forces joined ranks with the resistant rebels, leading to a coup d'etat and the eventual downfall of the regime in Kabul.The fall of Kabul to the Mujahideen led the foundation stone of the Afghan Civil War among various factions, parties and ethnic groups. During this period, Mazari led the forces of Hizb e Wahdat who were based in West Kabul. More than twenty-six fierce battles were fought between Hizb e Wahdat and the forces of Ahmad Shah Massoud, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Abdur Rasool Sayyaf and Abdul Rashid Dostum. The result was total destruction of Kabul city and the death of more than 50,000 civilians. More than 900 civilians were massacred in the Hazara dominated district of Afshar in Kabul and many more in Karte Seh, by the invading forces of Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdur Rasool Sayyaf assisted by mainly Sayed traitors in Hizb e Wahdat.Mazari was lured into peace, betrayed and then brutally killed.EnlargeMazari was lured into peace, betrayed and then brutally killed.The Massoud-Hekmatyar-Sayyaf triangle never considered Hazaras to be of significance in the Afghan government. The Hazaras had been and have been targets of mass scale ethnic and religious persecution. Hazaras lived in the lowest class of Afghan social hierarchy. Because of having features different to those of other Afghans they could be easily pin pointed and distinguished. Majority of the Hazaras are followers of the Shi'ite branch of Islam in contrast to the majority Sunnis which has followers in all the other ethnic groups of Afghanistan. It wasn't until the battle for West Kabul that Hazaras came to global consideration as a potential power in Afghanistan.During the civil war these leaders changed affiliations on many occasions. Mazari's affiliations and peace accords on different occasions were with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Rasheed Dostum and the final one was a failed attempt of peace accord with the Taliban in 1996 which resulted in his own death.Hizb e Wahdat was also on many occasions accused of serious human rights violation and killing of civilians.When asked by Sayed Mansour Nabi: "What are your demands for your people?", Mazari replied: "Our only wish for our people is that being Hazara should no longer be a crime." The bloody tragedy at Afshar marked the darkest moment in the leader's life, the memory of which always brought tears to his eyes, whereupon he would sigh: "I wish I had not been alive to see the Afshar tragedy." In his speech in 8 Saur, 1372 AH (28 April 1994), on the day of the execution of the traitors responsible for the events at Afshar, he said: "The Afshar tragedy has completely overturned my beliefs." The hatred inspired in Mazari by the collaborators and traitors, was rooted in the depth of a tragedy which continued to pain him. In his speech at the commemoration ceremony for the martyrs of 23 Sonbolah 1373 AH (14 Sept 1994), Mazari, who exposed the depth of his pain, bitterly sighed: "The painful events of the Afshar tragedy, from whose memory our people and future generations shall always suffer and hurt, was the work of collaborators, led by Sayed Anvari." In recalling Sayed Hadi's betrayal, he added: "it is Sayed Hadi who is responsible for the blood of Ashar's 700 martyrs and for the destruction and looting of 4000 homes."The resistance of West Kabul against the occupation forces of Massoud, Hekmatyar, and Sayyaf lasted until Saturday, 21 Hoot (11 March, 1995). The west Kabul resistance was unique considering the imbalance of forces, weaponry, training and experience between the two sides.On Saturday, the 11th of March 1995, Mazari wrote to Mullah Burjan, Taliban commander before Mullah Omar:"Mr Mulla Burjan,"Greetings..."We have told you before that you will not be able to defend our front-line positions. We are still ready to defend our people if you return our heavy arms and arsenal into our hands. We can form a front-line of defense against Showra-ye Nizar and Rabbani composed, of these people. Our envoy has come to you; clarify your position so that we can take control of all of West Kabul."He wrote a second letter to the brave people of West Kabul, appealing to them to fight to the last drop of their blood, to repulse the enemies of their honor and good name, and to prevent a repetition of the Afshar tragedy.Mullah Burjan, the Taliban leader, requested for a personal meeting with Mazari. He set of towards Chahar Asiyab in the company of a group of the Central Committee members, in a convoy of two cars, whereupon they were betrayed, disarmed and arrested. His forces were disarmed and soon the whole of West Kabul came under Taliban rule.Though Mazari and his companions were intended to be transferred in helicopters to Kandahar, the Taliban stronghold, they were brutally killed somewhere close to the city of Ghazni.Mazari today is considered by the Hazaras as a legendary leader and an epitome of their historic struggle towards equal rights and justice in the Afghan society. He is likewise revered by the other ethnic groups on grounds of his steadfastness for the cause of Jihad and justice. Recently, the road from downtown to West Kabul has been named after him.

About hazaras

History Of Hazaras

Hazaras are predominantly Shia Muslims, although there are significant populations of Sunni and Ismaili Hazaras in north and northwestern Afghanistan. Often Sunni Hazaras can blur the lines with the Tajiks and Pashtuns.

The Hazaras seem to have mainly Mongolian origins with some Caucasoid admixture, as evidenced by physical attributes and parts of their culture and language. It is commonly believed that the Hazara are descendants of the army of Genghis Khan, which marched into the area in the 12th century, but there are also beliefs holding Hazaras as descendents of the Koshanis, the ancient dwellers of Afghanistan famous for constructing the Buddhas of Bamyan; or Hazaras as people of Turkic origin. Proponents of the Mongol view hold that many of the Mongol soldiers and their families settled in the area and remained there after the Mongol Empire dissolved in the 13th century, converting to Islam and adopting local customs (cultural diffusion).
However, the main Mongolian mixing theory is contested on the basis of historical events surrounding Genghis Khan's invasion of what today constitutes central Afghanistan. The invading Mongol armies encountered fierce resistance from the locals around Bamyan, who had Asian features like the invading Mongols. This suggests that people with Mongolian features inhabited central Afghanistan, possibly of Uyghur Turkic origin, long before Genghis Khan's invasion and probably arrived there in much earlier waves of migration out of Central Asia.
Historical records also mention that in a particularly bloody battle around Bamyan, Genghis Khan's grandson Motochin was killed. He ordered Bamyan burnt to the ground in retribution, renaming it Ma-Obaliq ("Uninhabitable Abode").
After the fall of the Il-Khan empire in Persia, the Safavid Shah Abbas drove out the Mongols from Persia to Khorasan (present-day Afghanistan). Some sources say he drove out the Uzbeks but the distinction is unclear. Around 1550, the first mention of Hazaras are made by the court historians of Shah Abbas, as well as in the Baburnama distinguishing Hazaras from the Chughtai Uzbeks. This is when the national identity of Hazaras apparently began.

Language:
The Hazaragi language is a unique dialect of the Persian language, with some Mongolian and Turkish vocabulary. Many of the urban Hazaras in the larger cities of Kabul and Mazari Sharif speak Dari, while Hazaras from the Dai Kundi and Dai Zangi regions have the many admixture of the Mongolian in their language. Hazaras in Quetta,Pakistan date back to around 1890, and use more Urdu and English words.
Politics:
Since the early 1990s, the Hizb-e-Wahdat political party is the most important Hazara movement. The most influential member, prior to his capture and execution by the Taliban, was Abdul Ali Mazari. This execution at the hands of the Taliban made Hojjatul Islam Abdul Ali Mazari a martyr and a hero to the impoverished Hazara peoples

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