Why Would A Hazara Quit Pakistan? by Hadi Zaher

Do our politicians have any idea why asylum seekers pack up their lives and flee? Hadi Zaher on the increasingly violent situation facing Hazaras in Pakistan
An old Persian saying goes like this: as the lamb worries about its life, the butcher worries about the fat and meat. As the federal Government and the Opposition worry about destroying the people smugglers’ business model and stopping the boats, asylum seekers and the communities they hail from are worried about their lives.

Quetta is a small city located in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, a couple of hours by road from the Afghan border. It is the administrative centre of Baluchistan and a second home to hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees who have settled in the city following the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent outbreak of the Afghan civil war. Among them are tens of thousands of Hazaras, adding to an older community that arrived there a century earlier after the invasion of the Hazara homeland in Afghanistan’s central highlands by Amir Abdur Rehman, known in the British Empire as Afghanistan’s Iron Amir.

The Hazaras adhere to the Shiite branch of Islam, distinct from the Sunni Islam, by far Islam’s largest sect.

Quetta’s Hazara population is divided between two township slums in the east and west of the city. Many in the community own small shops, others depend on remittances from Iran, the Gulf States, Europe and Australia. Most families are divided across many political borders with relatives living in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Some of these people live legally, some have been able to obtain UNHCR refugee cards, but most have to make regular payments to local authorities and the police to avoid incarceration and deportation. This community has become the target of killings and massacres and its members have been forced to flee for their lives.

"We have lost more than 500 people in sectarian attacks on our community. Every ethnic Hazara family has been affected, directly or indirectly, by the violence against them. Everybody has lost a relative or a friend or a neighbour," Mirza Azad, a member of a local NGO Tanzeem Nasle-Nau Hazara, told Pakistan’s English daily paper, Dawn, in June.

In the three months since then, things have gotten worse for the Hazara community. Day after day armed assailants kill Hazara businessmen, politicians, laborers, clerics, vegetable vendors, students, children playing soccer and so on. Over the weekend, armed assailants stopped a van full of passengers on the outskirts of Quetta, segregated Hazara passengers and summarily executed three men and injured three others including a child.

This incident came mere four days after a passenger coach travelling to Iran was stopped outside Quetta. Only Hazara passengers taken out, lined up and shot. At least 26 were killed and six injured with the youngest victim only 13 years old.

Two weeks earlier, as Muslims around the world celebrated the end of Ramadan, Quetta’s Hazara community were collecting their dead as a car bomb struck Eid prayers, killing at least 12 people and injuring 13 others. In late July armed assailants on motorbikes attacked a passenger van on one of Quetta’s busiest roads killing at least 11 Hazara men and women. On 30 May this year, armed assailants arriving in two cars attacked an early morning game of soccer that killed eight people and injured 15, mostly youngsters out for a morning game. The targeted killing of Hazaras has now spread to other Pakistani cities.

The list of attacks specifically targeting the Hazara community is long. Members of the community, easily distinguishable for their Mongoloid features, bear the brunt of Pakistan’s sectarian violence. Almost every time the killers have got away and each time the Taliban affiliated Pakistan-based sectarian outfit Lashkar-e Jhangvi (LeJ) has claimed responsibility.

LeJ has a declared agenda to rid Pakistan of all Shiites, who they consider heretics and liable to be killed. Leaflets distributed by the group have declared Hazaras and Shiite Muslims to be "infidels". Followers are urged to take "extreme steps", much like ones carried out by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In very few cases have Pakistani authorities been able to make arrests. Where arrests have been made conviction rates have been very low. Two leaders of the LeJ were able to escape from Quetta’s maximum security prison in 2008. Earlier this month Pakistan’s High Court released a leader of a banned anti-Shiite organisation, who continues to organise public rallies and preach hatred towards the Shiite minority. With a lack of basic security and suspected collusion by the authorities, Hazaras feel cut off and besieged.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan, Hazaras continue to face discrimination at the hands of the Taliban-led Islamist insurgency as well as elements of the government. Hazara towns and villages have been targeted by government-backed armed nomads, passengers have been kidnapped, looted and slaughtered. Hazara communities across the country remain at the mercy of Taliban and other Islamic extremist outfits who have in recent years burned down villages, closed and torched schools and forced entire communities into exile.

Earlier this week, three Hazara passengers were taken off a van in Ghazni, slaughtered and their bodies thrown on to the road. The Taliban has blockaded Hazara districts of Jaghori and Qarabagh from the country’s main highway and the main cities, leaving the communities in a state of effective siege for the better part of the last three years.

Armed incursions into Hazara villages in Ghazni’s Nahur district earlier this year left 26 villages burned and dozens of villagers killed. This followed the burning of dozens of villages in the same area and the forced relocation of hundreds of villages in the neighboring Wardak province mere weeks earlier.

Hazara communities in Afghanistan and Pakistan fear a return to the dark days of the 1990s and 2000/2001 when the Taliban set out to massacre entire Hazara towns and villages in central Afghanistan and the north. Afghanistan’s central government is weak and itself insecure. There’s similar government incapacity in Pakistan. Under such conditions, communities at risk have no one to look to for security — and some flee to Western countries such as Australia in search of safety and security.

The Australian Government and Opposition appear to be in a race to the bottom to decide who can treat asylum seekers more harshly. What gets left out of the debate too often is the fact that these asylum seekers are, undeniably, in many cases escaping certain death.

Instead of changing Australian immigrations laws to send asylum seekers offshore, the Government should lead the rest of us in a show of compassion toward people like the Hazaras, who are in desperate need. Australia can and should listen to the stories of these people rather than making them a footnote to a dry, dull and uncompassionate narrative that is currently a feature of the parliamentary Question Time.

Self-harm, unrest grows in refugee prisons

During the historic High Court challenge to the federal government’s so-called Malaysia solution, barrister Debbie Mortimer, representing refugees that face expulsion from Australia, said “fundamental rights were at stake” in the case.

“Liberty … freedom of movement and bodily integrity and the freedom from assault,” she said in court on August 22. “The proposed conduct of the Commonwealth interferes with all three of those rights.”

Mortimer took apart the federal government’s claim that Malaysia was a safe country for refugees.
She said the government’s claim refugees would not be deported again to a “more hostile” country by Malaysia ignored Malaysia’s human rights abuses and the actual risk posed to refugees, which Australia plans to deport without an asylum claim assessment.
She said many of the more than 335 refugees now held on Christmas Island in fact had legitimate “protection claims against Malaysia”, which is known to discriminate against Shia Muslims and does not have any laws that protect or recognise refugees.

Mortimer said Malaysia allowed “detention without trial”, the death penalty and judicial caning, which Amnesty International said was used on almost 30,000 migrants and asylum seekers over five years.

Richard Niall, who represented a 16-year-old refugee challenging his return to Malaysia, said immigration minister Chris Bowen would fail in his role as legal guardian of unaccompanied child refugees if they were expelled to Malaysia.

The case finished on August 23. The court will make a final decision on August 31.

Refugees that arrived after the Australia-Malaysia swap deal was signed on July 25 have been held in an isolated compound in the Christmas Island detention centre. The immigration department has assessed whether they can be deported, but has not looked at their claims to asylum.

About 90 are children and some are teenagers with no parents. The fear and distress of being sent to Malaysia has taken a damaging toll. Refugee lawyer David Manne said the refugees were “very vulnerable people” who were “petrified of being sent to Malaysia”.

A spokesperson for the Christmas Island Workers Union, Kaye Bernard, told ABC’s 7.30 on August 15 that staff at the detention centre could not cope with the situation either.

“The workers have seen people banging their heads on the dirt … in complete frustration at finding themselves subject to the Malaysia deal,” she said.

Bernard said in other parts of the compound: “People bury themselves up to the neck in the middle of the compounds as an act of desperation … There’s one man who’s dug himself a six foot deep grave in B2 compound and he's been sleeping in there day and night on a regular basis.”

Self-harm and unrest has grown in the detention centre for most of this year. More cases of mental breakdown, depression and anxiety have been documented, despite restrictions on the media and the reluctance of detention centre workers to speak out.

ABC’s Lateline recently found evidence that “up to 12 incidents of self-harm or attempted suicide” take place every day in Australian detention centres.

At Villawood detention centre in Sydney, a Tamil man who had been in detention for more then two years tried to commit suicide by drinking cleaning fluids and cutting his wrists on August 15, the Refugee Action Collective (RAC) said.

RAC said the man was a recognised refugee, but ASIO had decided he was a security risk, so he was to be held indefinitely along with at least 12 others in Villawood.

Every other detention centre in Australia — particularly the Northern Immigration Detention Centre in Darwin, Curtin detention centre in north Western Australia, the Inverbrackie detention centre in South Australia and the Scherger detention centre in far-north Queensland — have had cases of Serco staff abusing refugees and denying medical and physical care.

The newest detention centre at Pontville, north of Hobart, will be close to several firing ranges, the Australian said on August 25. Refugees from war-torn Afghanistan, Iraq and Sri Lanka will be able to hear gunshots from within the compound.

Refugee Council of Australia chief executive Paul Power told the Australian the set up was “troubling … given the history and experiences of people fleeing conflict and persecution”.
“We’re talking about people whose lives were in constant danger, and about people still dealing with the grief of having immediate family members killed,” he said.

The Centre for Policy Development released a report on August 22 that called for mandatory detention to be phased out and Australia’s refugee intake to be significantly increased.

The report found “Australia’s refugee and asylum policies … are inhumane, ineffective and expensive”.

It has been backed by at least 30 high profile Australians, the Age said on August 22.

The centre said the report’s release “on the 10th anniversary of the Tampa, [showed] Australia’s asylum and refugee policies are still sadly characterised by human tragedy, political opportunism, policy failure and great cost.”

Christmas Island asylum-seekers face high-profile removal

The removal of the first group, which is en route to Christmas Island, could take several weeks as final preparations are made in Malaysia to receive them.
The Immigration Department is hoping to use the first transfer as a major deterrent to other asylum-seekers from attempting the voyage to Australia.

"We will be documenting this so pictures get out far and wide," spokesman Sandi Logan said.
The latest boat, carrying 54 mainly male Afghan, Iraqi and Iranian refugees and two crew, was intercepted by the Navy yesterday north-west of Scott Reef.

It will take several days to for the boat to reach Christmas Island, where the asylum-seekers will face medical and identity checks before being removed.

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Australian authorities are close to signing sign a lease on hostel-style accommodation for the refugees in Kuala Lumpur, to be staffed by the International Organisation for Migration.

The IOM said it would soon be ready to provide medical screening and welfare services for the new arrivals.

"We are deadline driven," spokesman Christopher Lom said today.

It's understood the first transfer may be done over several flights to minimise the risk of problems.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said AFP officers would be aboard to ensure the transfer went smoothly.

"It means taking appropriate steps to get people to board the plane and disembark the plane at the other end," she said.

Counsellors would also be on hand to talk asylum-seekers into obeying instructions alongside security and police, Ms Gillard said.

Malaysia will accept up to 800 asylum-seekers arriving by boat in return for Australia taking 4000 processed refugees over four years.

Mr Logan said immigration authorities were already promoting the asylum swap deal to refugee communities in Australia.

"We are putting a concerted effort into face-to-face meetings with key representatives of the targeted diaspora communities in Australia whose relatives and friends could well be considering using a people smuggler," he said.

Hope springs from inside the wire

THE High Court will today formally consider the Gillard government's plan to send asylum-seekers to Malaysia. At the same time, many of the poor and the desperate across Asia have already considered the plan.   

And many, it seems, have dismissed it. Since Australia signed the deal with Malaysia on July 25, five boats have arrived in Australian waters, carrying at least 338 asylum-seekers.

Under the scheme, which has already seen one Labor MP sidestepping party loyalty to express her concerns, Australia will resettle 4000 recognised refugees from Malaysia over four years, and in return send 800 arrivals back to Malaysia. If news spreads that an expensive and dangerous sea voyage will end not in Australia but in the crowded refugee ghettos of Malaysia, the Australian government believes potential asylum-seekers will think twice about setting sail.

And should the Malaysia plan come to grief, there is now a back-up: Papua New Guinea has agreed that a detention centre on Manus Island, closed for seven years, can be reopened.

But this plan, too, has been questioned. Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young yesterday called for an investigation to determine who would be sent to Manus Island, how much it would cost, and whether children would be detained in the centre.

"Last time Manus was open, under John Howard, for one month the bill for one lone person was $216,000," she told the ABC. "I don't think the minister can give the answers: [the government] is struggling to give the answers on Malaysia."

Labor MP Anna Burke has also gone on the record to criticise the Manus Island plan. And lining up with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and prominent human rights advocates such as Frank Brennan, Burke says she fears the Malaysia deal abrogates Australia's international responsibilities to asylum-seekers.

"I am concerned that we can't really guarantee the safety of the 800 people," Burke says. "That is my personal concern and I have expressed that in caucus."

Even so, if the asylum-seekers case in the High Court fails, it's likely the government will break records to get the first group on a plane bound for Malaysia. There are plans to film their departure and arrival and post the footage on the internet in the hope it will deter anyone considering getting on a boat destined for Australia.

Certainly, Afghans living in Kuala Lumpur have kept a close eye on the unfolding saga of the Australia-Malaysia refugee swap agreement.

Most know friends, relatives and compatriots who have attempted the journey to Australia in search of a better life, and they are aware the Australian government is trying hard to come up with a game-changer.

"They are actually well informed about it," says Afghan Zabiullah Ahmadi, who lives in Kuala Lumpur. "It's newspapers; it's the people around who watch what's going on. It's such a small community that word can spread very quickly."

Tahera Ahmadi and her husband Ali Haidari don't want to risk their lives, or the life of their two-year-old daughter, Angela, on a rickety boat, but they desperately want to live in Australia.

From the Hazara ethnic minority, they have lived in Kuala Lumpur for nearly four years, waiting for the magic letter inviting them to become Australians.

"Actually, I think Australia likes Hazara people," says Ahmadi in the small flat she shares with eight members of her extended family, all recognised by the UNHCR as bona fide refugees.

"We have heard they give rights to Hazara people; they understand our problems. In Afghanistan, we don't have any rights. If a person doesn't have rights, this person is like a servant. I'm sure if I get to Australia I will have a nice future."

According to Abdul Ghani bin Abdul Rahman, a leader in the Rohingya community in Malaysia, asylum-seekers have paid as much as 10,000 Malaysian ringgit (about $3200) per person for passage to Australia, a stake that has frequently entailed selling everything and borrowing from friends and family.

And this is relatively inexpensive compared with fares cited elsewhere. From Burma, the Muslim Rohingya minority is considered among the worst-treated in the world, denied citizenship by their own country.

Abdul Ghani says some people-smuggler agents in Malaysia are working with Indonesian agents, preying on the desperate.

"Many lives are lost at sea. I think this [the Australia-Malaysia scheme] is a good policy," Ghani says. "In 2006 a friend of mine passed away because he went to Christmas Island. There are empty promises by the agents; unscrupulous agents. Many times I beg Rohingya not to do this."

For asylum-seekers, risk, hardship and expense are the prices to be paid for a new life. A survey of Hazara men conducted in four Afghan provinces late last year showed a degree of ignorance about Australian policy.

Commissioned by Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the Afghanistan Counter People Smuggling Scoping Study found that in all provinces, the Hazara were aware of the various risks associated with using people smugglers to travel to Australia, but "only a few Hazara realise that migrants also face a risk of repatriation and detention by the Australian authorities".

Some of the Hazara quoted in the survey had no access to the internet, some had no electricity in their homes, and many relied mostly on news from friends and family, although the BBC, Voice of America and certain Afghan broadcasters were also trusted sources of information.

Many, living all their lives in landlocked Afghanistan, feared drowning on the way to Australia, or otherwise dying, or being imprisoned, or losing their language or culture, or being humiliated. One interview subject voiced his fears of a sea journey to Australia.
"Some people call it the dolphin's way because many people are eaten by these dolphins in the sea."

The survey found "information on the dangers of illegal immigration is primarily spread by word of mouth", with news coming from returning migrants, victims of people-smuggling fraud, friends and relatives in Australia and repatriated Afghans.
Regardless of the risks of the voyage, exodus beckons. There is little to keep potential asylum-seekers in Afghanistan, with economic stagnation, a critical shortage of government services and frequent discrimination pushing the Hazara people to look for a way out.

Many asylum-seekers in Malaysia took note of the announcement of the Australia-Malaysia plan in early May, but then, as the weeks passed, doubts began to surface regarding the final shape of the agreement. Hundreds of asylum-seekers in Asia apparently believed the failure to come up with a concrete plan presented a window of opportunity, and they arrived in Australian waters by the boatload.

Then, in late July, the plan was finalised, and officially signed. And still the boats kept coming -- five since the deal was signed, carrying nearly half the number of asylum-seekers Malaysia has agreed to take.

Many have been unaccompanied minors and, although Immigration Minister Chris Bowen declares there will be no blanket exemptions for unaccompanied under-18s, it's unlikely Australia will risk international opprobrium by sending these more vulnerable people to an uncertain future in Malaysia.

Many critics of the plan note that Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, that in general, refugees and asylum-seekers are not permitted to work in Malaysia, nor to send their children to government schools, they are subject to arbitrary arrest and detention, and at the extreme, brutally caned.

The Australia-Malaysia plan has specific provisos to permit the 800 transferred to Malaysia to work, and to ensure they will not be caned.

But still the critics are not convinced. The opposition has slammed both the Malaysia deal and the recent PNG agreement, noting the dearth of detail.

Hanson-Young says the government should go back to the drawing board. "This is a mess. I don't think the government is winning any favours from anyone on this, and the solutions put forth by the opposition aren't cutting through either."

And she is particularly concerned about the children involved. "Why are we treating children like pawns in this awful human chess game?"

So far this year, 37 boats have arrived in Australian waters, carrying 2186 asylum-seekers. Afghans, like last year, loomed large: discounting the most recent boat, the totals comprise 892 Iranians, 604 Afghans, 129 Iraqis, as well as "other". It's not a huge number of people, in the global scheme of things, when millions of displaced Afghans languish in Iran and Pakistan, but asylum-seekers punch well above their weight in the Australian political arena.

Despite the clamour, numbers of arrivals have actually fallen this year, perhaps because of the mooted Malaysia plan.

Last year 134 boats arrived in Australian waters, carrying 6535 asylum-seekers, more than three times this year's total so far. But over the past few years there has been a steady increase.

Bowen has pinned his hopes on the swap plan, which he insists will "break" the people-smugglers' business model and prevent asylum-seekers risking their lives on often unseaworthy boats.

The Christmas Island boat tragedy last year has failed to dissuade asylum-seekers, although it seems they know that drowning is one of the risks.

When, or perhaps if, the first asylum-seekers eventually get to Malaysia, they will be taken to Port Dickson, on the coast south of Kuala Lumpur, where two basic hotels have been leased and renovated to provide temporary housing. It is expected they will remain in this accommodation for a short period, perhaps 45 days, before they are sent out into the community to lead their own lives.

Afghan advocate Zabiullah Ahmadi says the plan will create a two-tier system, with some asylum-seekers in Malaysia holding what he calls a "golden card" giving them some security.

But, he says, there is remarkably little envy from the refugees who have been living in Malaysia for so long. "At some point they are happy," he says.

Australians don't fully understand what is being done in their name

A Federal Court judge ruled that the government was obliged to bring the asylum seekers ashore and assess their claims for asylum. That decision was handed down at 2.15pm, Melbourne time, on September 11, 2001: a date which significantly altered the political calculus.

A week later, the full Federal Court reversed that decision.

The people rescued by Tampa were taken to Nauru. By early 2002, Australia was forcing Afghans to return to Afghanistan, saying the Taliban were defeated and Afghanistan was safe for Hazaras. On August 26, 2002, the Tampa refugees were preparing to commemorate the first anniversary of their rescue. One of them, 20 year-old Mohammad Sarwar, awoke that morning, cried out and fell back dead. His friends told me that he died of a broken heart: he had just been refused protection. Australia continued to force Afghans held on Nauru to return to Afghanistan.

The Tampa episode was the start of Australia's conspicuously harsh approach to boat people. The idea was to "send a message", and the message was: we do not want you asking for our help.

It is a melancholy fact that John Howard's government made political capital by its treatment of boat people. The 2001 election turned on the issue. But it depended on misinformation and dishonesty.

Ten years on, we are behaving just as badly as we did at the time of Tampa. Instead of hijacking people at sea and sending them to Nauru, we plan to divert them to Malaysia. Labor doesn't care that Malaysia has not signed the Refugees' Convention. It doesn't care that Malaysia has a bad track record with human rights generally and asylum seekers in particular. Although Malaysia has agreed not to mistreat the people we plan to send there, that agreement is incapable of being supervised or enforced.

A fall-back plan is to send them to Manus Island: a malaria-ridden, northern outpost of Papua New Guinea.

To understand what has happened since the time of Tampa, we need to start with a few simple facts. Boat people are not "illegal" in any sense. There are no queues in the places they flee from. They come in very small numbers. Asylum seekers who come by plane outnumber boat arrivals about three to one. Asylum seekers who arrive by boat are, historically, very likely to be assessed as genuine refugees; those who come by plane are, historically, unlikely to be assessed as genuine refugees.

However, asylum seekers who come by boat are held in detention, whereas those who come by plane are not: we treat most harshly those who are most likely to be traumatised already and most likely to be lawfully entitled to our protection.

Why do we do this? What is it about our national character that explains such cruel, illogical behaviour? Simple: the politicians do it for political gain, and most Australians do not fully understand what is being done in their name. When Tampa sailed into Australian domestic politics a decade ago, the coalition was deeply worried about the drift of hard-right, anti-immigration voters to One Nation.

Jackie Kelly confronted Howard with exactly this concern as he was entering the Parliament to deliver a speech about dealing with the Tampa. He waved his speech at her and said, in effect: "This will fix it."

Tampa was all about politics; it had nothing to do with "protecting" our borders, which are, in any event, virtually watertight.

Since Tampa, Australia's treatment of boat people has been all about politics. The net result has been to tarnish Australia's reputation as a nation that once valued and respected human rights.The big question is: is this really what Australia is about?

Like Malcolm Fraser wrote, I believe most Australians are better than this. We are badly served by major political parties willing to play politics with defenceless, terrified people. Let Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard tell us plainly: do they honestly think their treatment of boat people reflects Australia's national character?

I have spent the decade since Tampa wondering about these things. I cling to the belief that if most Australians knew the truth of what is being done in their name, they would be shocked.

I believe most Australians do not support the idea of locking up innocent people for years, or mistreating them just because they tried to save their lives and the lives of their families.

I know that most Australians, if they visited a detention centre, would be appalled to see the misery that we are inflicting on ordinary people who want nothing more than the chance to live safe from the fear of persecution.

I believe that, placed in the same circumstances, most Australians would do exactly what boat people do: run for your life, do whatever you can to get to safety, whatever the risk.

All these things I believe about this country and its people. Am I wrong?

Behsood Hazarajat Map

Report: Kochies in Behsood

Report on the Case of Conflict between Kochies and the Local People In Behsood (Hessa-e-Awal, Hessa-e-Dowm) and Diamirdad districts of Maidan Wardak province

According to the history, entrance of Kochies to the central parts of the country and use of its pastures goes back to late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Utilization of these pastures by Kochies was combined with destructive fights and devastating conflicts which have victimized countless people up till now. Kochies claim that utilization of these pastures in the central areas by them is based on the decisions made by the pervious rulers in Afghanistan and they consider it as their right. On the other hand, the local people justify that utilization of these pastures are the rights of native inhabitants of these areas and the decisions held by the previous rulers have no legal legitimacy, because these decisions were based on discrimination and cruelty and combined with ominous political aims and are contrary to principles of the present Afghan Constitution. Taking into consideration the ragged and mountainous terrain of the central areas, cultivated land is very limited in this region and the only source of income and livelihood of the local people is animal husbandry which totally depends on these pastures.

Another undeniable fact is that during different periods of history, some political circles have used these conflicts for their own political interests and have tried to intensify it. This conflict once again has been intensified during the recent years through interventions of some political circles and has gained more tribal and political nature. The issues between Kochies and the local people in Behsood and Diamir Dad districts cause numerous problems, life and material casualties for the conflicting sides every year. In 1382, the local people agreed that Kochies can stay in Behsood only for that year as guests, but in the year 1383, as a result of a clash occurred in the area, one local inhabitant was killed. Another person was killed in 1384. The fights and armed conflicts in 1387 caused displacement of some local people and brought about material casualties, but had no life casualty. In 1368, eleven local inhabitants were killed and fifteen others including four women were injured during the fight and also one thousand nine hundred families became displaced from this area. The Kochies also claimed that one of them was killed during that year. In 1387, the scope of this conflict father expanded and caused heavier life and material casualties, twenty four local people were killed and eleven others were injured. More than six thousand families were forced to leave their homes and their native areas, around eighty four houses were burned and people’s properties were looted, a large number of livestock were missed and agricultural products were destroyed and schools and local clinics stopped functioning and heavy damages were inflict on the local people.

Similarly, the Kochies claimed that thirty men of them were killed and forty two others were injured, but they did not present any documents to prove their claim and no independent sources approved this claim1. In 1388, due to holding of presidential elections, Kochies did not come to these areas. Therefore, no clashes took place. And the people spent the season of conflicts in tranquility.

During the current year, on 24/1/1389, the Kochies proceeded to the border areas of Hesa-e-Awal and Dowom of Behsood and Daimir Dad districts and wanted to enter these districts. After four minor clashes with the local people, finally a sever fight broke out between the two sides which continued till 28/2/1389. The current year fight caused tremendous human and material casualties which will be elaborated as following.

Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission closely observed this conflict through its regional office in Bamyan and followed precisely the cases of Human Rights violations emanated from this conflict. The Commission has provided impartial and documentary reports about this conflict every year to make an effort for preventing the repetition of this human catastrophe. Unfortunately, in spite of repetition of this arm conflict every year, which has inflected heavy casualties and calamities on the people, the state of Afghanistan has been indifferent against the lawful and documentary recommendations of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, and passed by this case. It has taken no effective step for permanent solution of this issue. Carelessness and irresponsible attitude of the state in this regard has caused the repetition of this armed conflict.

Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission sent many fact-finding groups from its regional office in Bamyan to the districts of Hesa-e-Awal, Hessa –e-Dowom of Behsood and Daimir Dad during this year to follow the case directly and precisely. The findings of this report are based on direct observation of this case made by the commission’s staff, and the inflicted casualties on the local people. During this investigation, interviews have been conducted with hundreds of eyewitnesses, local state authorities, representatives of the people in the Provincial Council of Maidan Wardak province and the displaced people. They have visited tens of affected villages (burned houses, looted villages and the graves of victims).

It is worth mentioning that during many working trips to Behsood and Diamirdad districts, the dispatched delegation of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission made efforts to contact the Kochies and obtain their views about the conflict and the inflicted casualties to be included in this report, but they did not succeed to contact and get the views of Kochies. But the office of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission in Kabul met with the representatives of Kochies in Kabul on 6/4/1389 and their views have also been reflected in this report2.

Eyewitnesses and case details of the conflict during the year 1389

Based on the statements presented by the eyewitnesses and state authorities, on 24 Hamal 1389, Kochies together with their herds of sheep and camels came to the border areas of Heas-e-Awal and Dowoom of Behsood and Daimir Dad districts. After four minor clashes (on 10/2/1389 in the area of Dahst-e-Gola, on 17/2/1389 in the area of Sia Qarkh Hesa-e-Dowoom Behsood, on 12 /2/1389 in the area of Kor Basta, on 14/2/1389 in the areas of Yaka Chah and Kabootar Khana of Daimirdad district) which had no casualties, finally on 26/2/1389, fight started in the area of Qarqad located in Daimir Dad district. On 28/2/1389, the state sent a high-ranking delegation included the Vice President, Interior Minister, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defense and a number of authorities from Maidan Wardak province headed by the second Vice President to settle the problem. The armed conflict ended through their decision and issuance of a presidential decree.

Similarly on 30/2/1389 the president of Islamic state of Afghanistan, by issuing a decree confirmed the decision taken by the delegation dispatched to the area by the central government. The decree emphasized once again that the Kochies should start evacuation of the occupied and conflicting territories on the same day (30/2/1389). On 26/2/1389 around seventy soldiers of the national army were dispatched and deployed to the areas of Tizak and Daimir Dad (war zones). On 27/2/1389 around 86 soldiers of the national army were deployed in the areas of Mirhazar related to Hesa –e-Dowoom of Behsood district. On 30/2 1389 around 384 policemen from the national police force stationed in the areas of Qawm-e-Abdul Khaliq and covered the area of Tizak in Hesa-e-Awal Behsood district to monitor the war zone. In spite of the decision made by the high-ranking state delegation and the presidential decree on immediate evacuation of Kochies from the areas in Hesa-e-Awal and Dowoom Behsood and Daimir Dad district and deployment of the national army and the national police forces to impose cease fire and to implement the presidential decree, the Kochies delayed their evacuation of the said areas till 9/3/1389 and resorted to looting and burning of the houses in some areas as witnessed by the delegation of AIHRC and indicated in the statements by the eyewitnesses. In spite of the credible documents, evidences and direct eyewitnesses of the commission delegation in this regard, the representatives of Kochies in the parliament rejected the inflected damages on the local people.

District-wise observation of the affected areas:


A- Hesa –e-Awal Behsood district: (6/3/1389)

The AIHRC dispatched delegation to Hesa –e-Awal Behsood district on 8/3/1389 directly visited thirty-one large and small villages and took pictures for documentation of the case. These villages included Dahan –e-Garmab or Qawm –e-Abdul Khaliq, Gandab, Qool Chakar, Qala –e-Lala, Dahan Ab Lataband, Qala –e-Morad Khan, Dewali, Qala –e-Madad, Dahan Qool Tizak, Dahan Shor Abak, Elahi Tizak, Sayed Mohammad, Kota Ashoor Mohammad, Gharha, Ab Paran, Dasht-e-Tizak, Ghawchak, Dasht Payeen, Ghulaman, Dahan Nake, Qool Bakhshi, Jawkar , and Tizak.

In addition to the above mentioned areas, the villages of Dahan-e-Abpai, Kota-e-Mulah, Kote-e- Sirak, Zer Hessar, Qala Giran, Khurbaid village, Dahan Kharbaid and Pistee were visited by the commission’s delegation. These villages were totally deserted and all doors and windows of the houses were broken and the properties were looted. As a sample we evaluate the situation of four of the villages which were visited by the commission’s delegation:

1- Dahan Garmab village or Qawm Abdul Khaliq: (8/3/1389)

Around thirty families are living in this village. All the inhabitants of this village were displaced and most of them displaced to Kabul and a limited number of them took shelter in safer villages of Behsood district. One clinic, a school and one religious Madrasa were active in this village. All the equipments and properties of these establishments were looted as a result of the attack by Kochies and one house consisting of two rooms together with many piles (Dey3) of fire-wood were burned. The mosque and Madrasa of this village located beside each other. Due to lack of school building, the students used this building as their school. The mosque, school and Madrasa were looted and the villagers stated that forty pieces of carpet, thirteen big pots and other utensils together with school equipments were taken away form these establishments.

It is worth mentioning that during this survey, the area was totally deserted and in many villages the commission staff could not find anyone to work as their guide. Finally the commission staff succeeded to find a person called Ali Yawar son of Bostan Ali, a resident of Dahan Garmab in Hesa-e-Awal Behsood district to cooperate with the staff of the commission and to give information about the villages adjacent to Garmab village.

2- Diwali Village: (8/3/1389)

According to the statement by Ali Yawar, a resident of the village, around thirty families are living in this village. During our observation, we witnessed that the windows of all the houses were broken and one house consisting of eight rooms were burned. The properties of mosque and houses of the people were totally looted; many piles of fire-wood were burned. The villagers stated that the doors and windows of a guest house built by the National Solidarity, were broken and all the properties of the guest house were looted by the Kochies.

3- Qala-e-Madad village: (8/3/1389)

A villager (Mohammad Huussain son of Taj Mohammad a resident of this village) stated that thirteen families are living in this village. In addition to looting the properties of the houses, one mill together with fifty sucks of wheat were looted. All equipments of Imam Hassan high school were taken away, the doors and windows of the school were broken and all fire-woods in the village were burned.

4- Tizak: (10/3/1389)

According to the statements presented by two of the local people (Asef son of Abdul and Zafar son of Abdul Hussain residents of Tizak area of Hesa-e-Awal Behsood), around sixty families are living in the areas around Tizak bazaar. In addition to looting of houses, one school and one clinic were looted and the windows and doors were broken. A three year old girl called Habiba daughter of Mohammad Baqer were killed and her mother got injured in this area 3.

A number of shops, a bakery and a hotel were looted or burned in Tizak bazaar by Kochies which are listed as following: One mill belonging to Zafar son of Abdul Hussain, one shop belonging to Zafar son of Abdul Hussain, one radio workshop belonging to Dawlat son of Haji Hussain Ali, one shop belonging to Haji Haidar son of Haji Khuda Bakhsh, one bakery belonging to Haji Haidar son of Haji Khuda Bakhsh, one shop belonging to Assef son of Abdul, one hotel belonging to Asef son of Abdul, one shop belonging to Sultan son of Zamen Ali, one store belonging to Salman son of Zamen, one shop belonging to Haji Mohammad Ali son of Haji Boaman, three shops belonging to Haji Ramazan which were burned, one shop belonging to Sofi Asadullah son of Haji Shafa, one workshop belonging to Rassul son of Ghulam were looted.

According to the findings of the delegation sent by administration of Maidan Wardak province to survey the damages, around one hundred villages were affected in Hessa –e- Awal district of Behsood and more than 1015 families were forced to displace from their houses. Out of them seven hundred sixty five families were seriously affected and all their properties were looted and a number of their houses were burned. 4

In the areas related to Hesa-e-Awal of Behsood district a total of three inhabitances were killed and one injured. Sixteen schools were closed and six of them were looted. Similarly two clinics were looted and their doors and windows were broken.

B- Hesa –e-Dowom of Behsood district: (7/3/1389)

Based on the findings of the AIHRC staffs, Hesa-e-Dowom Behsood district in comparison to Hesa-e-Awal Behsood district and Daimirdad, is less affected and a few villages were damaged. The dispatched delegation of the commission to this district visited seven affected villages (villages of Qool Abagha, Qala-e-Paien, Qala –e-Boghondak, Bala hesar , Cheshma-e-Taghi, Dahan Khalil Morda and Dahan Baghak) on 7/3/1389. The obtained information was documented by pictures and recording the interviews with the eyewitnesses. It is worth mentioning that during this survey all the affected areas of Hesa-e-Dowom Behsood district were deserted. All the inhabitants of these villages were displaced. Some of the house and piles of fire-wood were burned and the equipments and properties of the families were looted. As an example, here we mention three affected villages which were visited by the commission staff:

1- Cheshma Taghi: (7/3/1389) according to the statements by Mohammad son of Ishaq a resident of Cheshama Taghi, around eight families are living in this village. While visiting this village, it was observed that all doors and windows of the houses were broken and their properties were looted. In addition to looting the properties of the houses, one shop was looted and another shop, a store and one mill were totally burned down, the specification of which has been mentioned in the table.

2-Dahan-e- Khalil Morda village (7/3/1389): According to Mohammad son of Sayed Mohammad, a native of Dahan –e-Khalil Morda village, four families are living in this village. While visiting this village, the commission delegation found out that all inhabitants of this village were displaced, one house consisting of two rooms together with two piles of fire wood was burned down and the house properties were looted.

3- Dahan Baghak village: (7/3/1389)

According to the statement by Mohammad son of Sayed Mohammad a resident of Dahan-e-Khalil Morda, sixteen families are living in this village. Eyewitnesses of the commission staff show that properties of the people after breaking the locks and windows of the houses were totally looted and in addition one room together with two piles of fire-wood was burned and one shop and its storehouse was looted. This person stated that in addition to the above mentioned villages, the villages of Dahan-e-Gandab, Qaraqol Jan, Zard Sang, Baghak and Ghojorak valley totally resided by 41 families were deserted and all the house properties were looted and the doors and windows of the houses were broken. In Kajab valley related to Hesa-e-Dowom Behsood, a total of 90 small and large villages exist. In addition to Kajab valley, Badasiab, Kharqol, Sabz Darakht and the areas of Azhdar were deserted. According to the findings by the damage survey team of Maidan Wardak province, a total of 850 families were displaced in Hesa-e-Dowom Behsood district, out of them ninety one families related to Hesa-e-Dowom Behsood district were seriously affected. Their properties and livestock were looted and a number of their houses were burned.

C- Daimirdad district: (9 to 10/3/1389)

The commission staff visited thirty eight small and large affected villages in Daimirdad district. In the majority of villages, houses and piles of fire-wood and hay were burned. The people’s properties were totally looted. The villages of Garmab (upper and lower) Qarqad, Gedargo-e- Olia and Sufla, Dam Qorak, Sia Khawal, Bodak, Kota-e- Band Naqshin, Zard Argeen, Naqshin, Surkh Kana Gak, Dahan Errganak, Qala –e-Molayem, El Dastam, Fakhra, Dasht-e-Qaderoo, Dasht-e-Naw, Safid Qada, Baghalak, Shahyar, Jaw Qoolak, Kota Afghan, Gardan Hesar, Sar Koh, Yak Roia, Safid Nahoor, Tangi, Diwal, Chaka Khoor Sofal, Chaka Khoor Paein, Ghojarak, Bikh Koh, Qool Banoy Ulia, Qool Banoy Sufla, Pass Qool, Kota Mullah, Sar Qash, Qool Dada, Jawaz Sang, are the affected villages which were observed by the commission’s staff and the damages were documented.

The villages of Gidar Goy Sofla, Qotan Ulia and Sufla and some other small and large villages were not observed and surveyed due to security problems. As an example, we evaluate four of the following affected villages:

1- Villages of Garm Aab (Ulia and Sufla): (9/3/1389)

Sayed Amanullah son of Sayed Faqir a resident of the area stated during the survey of Garm Aab Bala and Paein that these two villages located in a valley. Before this fight twenty one families were living in both villages. As a result of this fight, all of them were displaced. The observations by the commission’s staff shows that nine houses and one mosque were burned in this village. All agricultural products of the farmers were destroyed by the herds of sheep belonging to Kochies and their properties were looted. A number of the local people who had recently returned to the area stated that all the livestock of the villagers have been looted by Kochies. During this incident the local people came under a surprise attack and they could not take out their livestock and properties before the war broke out.

2-Qar Qad village: (9/3/1389)

Sayed Aman son of Sayed Faqir an inhabitant of this area stated that nineteen families are living in this village and all of them are displaced now. The Kochies started their attacks from this area and they burned the piles of fire wood to create panic in the villages and as a result all the villagers left the village during the dark night without taking their properties and livestock with them and they fled away from the area. In addition to displacement of the villagers and looting of their properties, a total of seven piles of fire wood and one store full of hay were burned by Kochies. A number of the villagers who had recently returned to the village stated that all their livestock were taken away by Kochies and all their cultivated lands were destroyed by the Kochies’ herds of sheep and camels. On 9 Jawaza 1389, the commission staff went to the area and observed that herds of camels and sheep of the Kochies were grazing on the farms in the villages. One mosque was partially burned.

3- Sia Khawal village: (10/3/1389)

According to Shaikh Kazem son of Bahman Ali and Sayed Hashim son of Aman residents of Dam Qorak, around twenty six families were living in this village. All the villagers are displaced. All of their properties including one shop were looted and four houses were burned. The statement by the said persons indicated that people could not take out their livestock and properties and all their livestock and properties were taken away by the Kochies.

4- Qala-e-Molaiem village: (10/3/1389)

Taqiee son of Ewaz a native of Qala-e-Molaiem village whose merchandize in the shop were totally burned down stated that around thirty eight families are living in this village and all of them are displaced now. All properties of the villagers were looted and eight houses and one shop were burned and also six other shops were looted a list of which is as following: one shop belonging to Taqee son of Ewaz (this shop was totally burned together with its merchandize), one shop belonging to Gharib Ali son of Kalbi Hassan, one shop belonging to Ramazan son of Hussain Ali (all its merchandize were looted), one shop belonging to Rostam son of Qurban Ali, one shop belonging to Mohammad Hussain son of Shaikh Barat (he was also killed), were totally looted.

Based on the direct observation of the commission staff, the district of Daimirdad has been affected more than other areas as a result of this fight. The findings by the damages survey team from Maidan Wardak province show that more than one hundred thirty small and large villages in this district have been affected. Six schools and one clinic have been closed5 and all of their properties were destroyed. Three persons were killed and four others were wounded in this district and around two hundred twenty six families became displaced and the local people in the said areas have lost all of their properties.

Sum up of the findings:

Based on the findings by the AIHRC staff, six local people (three persons from Hesa-e-Awal Behsood and three others from Daimirdad district) were killed during this fight, mostly on 26/2/1389. Among them were a three year old girl called Habiba. It is worth mentioning that the dead bodies remained in the mountains for many days. For example the dead body of Shaikh Barat son of Abdullah was missing till 11/3/1389 and he was not buried.
During this fight, six villagers were wounded. Among the wounded people were also children and women. A complete identity list of the wounded people is included in the table attached to this document. ? According to the findings by the AIHRC staff and evaluation made by the damage survey team of Maidan Wardak province, during this fight a total of 2791 families from the three districts of Hesa-e-Awal, Hesa-e-Dowom of Behsood district and Daimirdad (1015 families from Hesa-e-Awal district, 850 families form Hesa-e-Dowom and 926 families from Daimirdad ) were displaced and moved towards other provinces and Kabul city. Among them 1782 families (765 families from Hesa –e-Awal Behsood, 91 families from Hesa –e-Dowom Behsood and 926 families from Daimirdad) in addition to displacement, have lost their properties and a large number of their houses have been burned down.
Around 340 small and large villages in three districts (120 villages in Hesa-e-Awal Behsood, 90 villages in Hesa –e-Dowom Behsood and 130 villages in Daimirdad) were totally deserted during this fight. The area was totally evacuated when the delegation form Bamyan regional office visited the area. Among them one hundred eighty villages in all three districts have been severely affected. The houses of villagers were looted and some of the houses were burned down. And in some areas their agricultural products were destroyed by herds of sheep belonging to Kochies.
The findings by the commission’s regional office in Bamyan show that one hundred fifty three houses in three districts of Hesa-e-Awal, Hesa-e-Dowom of Behsood and Dimirdad were burned down which include three hundred twenty three residential rooms. Pictures of the burned houses and full identity of their owners in each village and district have been provided and registered in a table attached to this report. ? Thirty five schools have been closed in the three districts and the doors and windows of most of these schools were broken and their equipments were destroyed. As a result more than 5450 students are deprived of their right to education. It is worth mentioning that the students of these schools had been victims of these conflicts during the previous years and for long periods they had been deprived of their rights to education.
As a result of this fight, four clinics have been closed and their doors and windows were broken and the medicine and other facilities of the clinics were looted and destroyed.
Due to huge and widespread damages inflected on the houses, looting of properties and facilities of the families destruction of agriculture, losing of livestock, it was difficult for the delegation in the regional office of Bamyan to provide an exact figure of the casualties. ? Representatives of Kochies in the parliament and members of the commission for settlement of the Kochies’ problems claimed in their controversial statement that as a result of this fight one Kochi was killed and two others were wounded and still other four Kochies together with five hundred sheep and a number of camels are missing. They also claimed that as a result of returning, the Kochies and their livestock were deprived of water and fodder and some of their livestock were destroyed. They claimed that damages costing ten million Afghanis have been inflected on them, while the state has paid them two million Afghanis as reparation. The AIHRC delegation demanded the documents regarding the damages inflected on the Kochies, but they stated that there is no precise information about the damages. The AIHRC on 16/4/1389 once again contacted Haji Kako Zai member of the commission for settlement of Kochie’s problems and asked him for documents and evidences to prove their claims. He stated that the Kochies are scattered in different provinces and can not provide reliable documents. Haji Kako Zai mentioned to the commission the name of a killed person called Babrak and the names of missing persons each one Aman son of Gula Khan from Bahram Kahil tribe, Zaman son of Shir Zaman from Dawlat Zai tribe, La Khabar son of Rahem Del form Akor Khail tribe, Almar son of Gul Mar from Hussain Khail tribe. It is worth mentioning that except presenting the name of one killed person and the missing people, he did not provide any document to prove their claim and this claim of Kochies has not been approved by any independent source.
Although the Kochies had reached the borders of Hesa-e-Awal and Hesa –e-Dowom of Behsood and Daimirdad districts on 24/1/1389 and there was probability of a fight, the central government and the local government in Maidan Wardak province held no effective measure to prevent the fight between the conflicting sides. As a result of carelessness of the government the fight broke out on 26/2/1389. The representatives of Kochies accepted that both conflicting sides were armed, but the Kochies claimed that they had already disarmed the local people and surrendered their weapons to the government. ? In spit of the fact that fights in the district of Behsood and Daimirdad have accord repeatedly since long years during which clear violations of human rights and numerous crimes were committed, but the government (the local and central government) have never taken a step to investigate and document these crimes and legally prosecute the criminals. The local authorities state that investigation in this regard is beyond their capacity.
As it is mentioned, the first group of the national army forces deployed in the affected areas and the presidential decree issued on 28/2/1389 to make immediate cease fire and none of the conflicting sides should resort to aggression, but the findings by the delegation of the AIHRC indicate that looting and burning of the houses in the villages continued till complete evacuation of Kochies from the area on 9/3/1389 and the national army forces did not prevent looting of the house in the districts of Daimirdad and Hesa-e-Awal Behsood. Some of the national army officers stated to the commission staff that they have been ordered not to intervene and they should act impartially.
Both representatives of Kochies and the local people of Behsood blame the central government and consider that they are involved in continuation of armed conflicts. Both sides severely criticize the central government that they do not seek a permanent settlement of the issue and deals with this issue for political interests.
Conclusion:

During this year fight, 6 local people were killed and 6 others were wounded, more than 2791 families from the three districts were displaced and the properties of most families were looted. Around 153 houses consisting of 323 rooms belonging to the local people were completely burned, 35 schools were closed as a result of which around 5450 students were deprived of their right to education and heavy damages were inflected on the local people as a result of looting their houses, missing of their livestock, destruction of their agriculture, closure of schools and clinics.

In this incident, the right to human integrity, the right to life, the right to property, the right to education, the right of access to health services, the right to personal security of many Afghan citizens was violated and many villagers were forced to displace. Based on articles 6, 23, 22, 24, 38, 40, 43 and 52 of the Afghan Constitution, other national laws and international human rights conventions is the state is obliged to observe and protect the human rights of Afghan citizens. Based on the text of this report, the state has not abided by its commitments and obligations regarding human rights of the citizens and did not take effective and on time measures. In reality, this incident is a clear violation of human rights. Although during this conflict many of human rights were violated and numerous crimes were committed, the central state and the local government in Maidan Wardak province have made no effort for investigation and documentation of these crimes and the perpetrators have not been prosecuted. There are no files of this conflict in the provincial attorney office related to the previous years. The government’s lack of attention to this case during the past years, has caused continuation of this conflict, intensification of tribal discriminations, revival of the culture of war, weakening of the sate sovereignty and has impede the process of nation and state building. As a consequence, not only one tribe, but all the people and political system in the country would be affected.

Recommendations

1. As the report indicates, during this year’s fight more than 340 villages in three districts of Hessa-e-Awal, Hessa-e-Dowm and Diamirdad district were displaced and more than 180 villages in the three districts were severely affected. The inhabitants of these areas need urgent humanitarian assistance to renovate and revive their living conditions to some extent. Therefore, the state of Afghanistan, national and international charity organizations should assist the affected displaced people and based on the presidential decree take steps for reparation of the damages to prevent a human catastrophe.

2. For just and fair reparation of the damages inflected on the local people, the state of Afghanistan should carry out an all-sided investigation and evaluation of the situation and take proper measures in this regard.

3. As it is mentioned in this report, conflict has been continuing between the local people and Kochies since long years and caused numerous crimes, but the state has not taken any step for documentation, investigation of the case and legal prosecution of the perpetrators. Therefore, in order to end the culture of impunity and escaping from the law, the state should carry out investigation about the crimes committed during this fight and legally prosecute the perpetrators. In this way, assure the Afghan people that there is no impunity for the perpetrators.

4. Since many year, different weapons have been used in these fights, therefore, the state should take serious steps for disarming the illegal armed groups who enflame this conflict.

5. The AIHRC reiterates its pervious recommendations for the permanent and political solution of this issue, and obliges the state to implement article fourteen of the Afghan Constitution for “improvement of agriculture, livestock breading, economic, and social and welfare conditions of the farmers and settlement of Kochies and design effective programs.” Therefore, once again the state is requested to honestly take steps for permanent solution of this issue, prevention of warlordism, tribal discrimination and ending the culture of impunity and to consolidate the rule of law through implementation of article fourteen of the constitution and the recent presidential decree to prevent repetition of this conflict in the coming years.

6. As it was mentioned in the presidential decree, the Kochies should have been settled in three months, but still no practical step has been taken in this regard. Therefore, the state is requested to expedite this process.

7. Taking into consideration the effective role of international community and the United Nations in maintenance of peace, stability and development in Afghanistan, it is suggested to seriously and effectively support the state of Afghanistan to fulfill its commitments regarding promotion and protection of the citizens’ rights.

Appendix 1

Names of those killed and injured in the conflict between Nomades and residents of the area in the districts of Hesa-e Awal-e Behsood and Daimerdad

Appendix 2

List of houses burned

Totally 153 houses composed of 323 rooms
Note: the names of some owners are not known, because, during the visit of the area no body has been present in the area.

Attached No. 3

List of the schools that had become closed

Totlly 35 schools were closed and more than 5450 students couldn’ t continue their studies

Numbre of stuents in some school are indicated as zero, because we couldn’t get access to those in charge of the said school.

Appendix 5.

Pictuers

It should be noted that all the pictures are taken by our coulleagues in Bamyan Regional Office.

Picture of some of the graves of those killed

House burned