UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Visits Kabul, Reports Facts First-Hand

The demonstration had been scheduled to march toward the British Parliament. The organisers of the demonstration said that the march will continue in front of the parliament.

Several representatives of the demonstrators will, then, enter the UK Parliament and meet with the parliamentarians.

After the deadly attack at the Kaaj educational center in the west of Kabul, Afghan citizens have held demonstrations in and abroad Afghanistan. In the past days, thousands of Afghan citizens protested in nearly a hundred cities around the world and demanded an end to the "Genocide of Hazaras" in Afghanistan.

The demonstrators have said that the Hazaras have been subject to systematic killings in Afghanistan ruled by the Taliban. They have urged the rights groups and countries to investigate and take actions against the genocidal killings of Hazaras.

According to UN reports, at least 53 students had died, and more than a hundred others had been injured in the suicide attack at the Kaaj educational center.

The attack has been widely condemned and a week later, no one has claimed responsibility for it.

It stated that Afghanistan’s civil society has come together to call out the extreme persecution faced by the Hazara community. Since the Kaaj attack, the hashtag #StopHazaraGenocide has gone viral, with over eight million mentions on Twitter - and this number is only growing. This is an instance of unprecedented unity, where all communities, regardless of ethnic or religious sect, within and outside of Afghanistan’s borders, are standing in solidarity with the Hazara people as well as suppression and happening in northern provinces of Afghanistan such as Panjsher, Baghlan and Takhar.

#StopHazaraGenocide has also been supported by members of the international community, where politicians, human rights activists, artists and even the renowned Turkish novelist, Elif Shafak, have all joined the online protest movement.

“The Hazara community face vulnerability due to their ethnicity, but also due to the fact they predominantly adhere to the Shia sect of Islam. Now that the Taliban has once again violently usurped power in Afghanistan, Hazaras no longer have representation in cabinet positions, provincial and district governors, mayors and police chiefs. Whilst there have been two appointments of Hazaras, this has been purely symbolic. Without genuine representation, the Hazara community lack security and protection – leaving them vulnerable. There is also broad consensus amongst the Taliban that Shias are not ‘proper Muslims’. In fact, the Taliban’s persecution of other ethnic groups, such as Tajiks and Uzbeks, demonstrate the exclusionary state they are trying to build – where the Taliban is attempting to erase the mosaic nature of Afghanistan’s communities,” the statement read.

This most recent massacre of the Hazara school children has generated unprecedented levels of solidarity amongst Afghanistan’s civil society. Women from all communities came together in Kabul and protested, chanting slogans against the Taliban regime, however, the Taliban violently supressed them. Then, female university students in provinces of Herat and Bamiyan followed suit and held protests, where they were similarly beaten up and dispersed. Next, women in Balkh province took to the street to protest the regime. Dissent led by the civil society groups has not stopped, where protests continue to take place in all major cities across Afghanistan.

The protests have not been limited to Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s diaspora communities have protested internationally showing solidarity with the Hazara and Tajik communities, who have been continuously targeted by the Taliban since their takeover. Over the weekend, diaspora communities of Afghanistan have rallied, holding protests in almost 100 cities across the globe.

The statement added that since 2015, when IS-K’s brand emerged in the security scene of Afghanistan, there have been horrible incidents against the Shia community of Afghanistan. It stated that under the Taliban rule, the Hazara community continues to be heavily persecuted and targeted, with little done to protect them from suicide bombings and other unlawful attacks.

This statement comes as on September 30, a terrorist strapped with explosives entered the Kaaj education centre in West Kabul. He killed the guard and then set off the detonator, blowing himself up along with hundreds of teenagers – Hazara girls and boys – who were receiving tutoring for their university entrance exam. As the girls were seated in the front rows of the large room, separated from the boys, as per Taliban regulation, many more of them were killed and injured. Latest reports confirm 53 deaths, at least 46 of them girls, leaving another 110 injured.

The Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister addressed the "Afghanistan and Regional Connectivity: Opportunities and Challenges" meeting in Kabul on Wednesday.

Hanafi reiterated that the Taliban seeks good relations with the world and expects other countries to maintain their good relations with the group.

The Taliban talks about stability in Afghanistan when at least 56 students died in a suicide attack in the past in western Kabul.

In addition to that, after the death of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Kabul, the world's concern about the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan has increased.

The United Nations too believes that the Taliban have not cut ties with Al-Qaeda while other terrorist groups have been operating freely in Afghanistan.

The undersecretary of state added on Wednesday, that no society can progress by suppressing half of its population.

Zeya talked about the Afghan and Iranian girls on the occasion of "International Day of the Girls".

While the world celebrates international day of the girls, women and girls in Afghanistan and Iran have been facing restrictions from the Islamic Republic and the Taliban regimes.

With the killing of Iranian girl Mehsa Amini by Iran's moral police, the country has been the witness of widespread protests led by Iranian girls and women. The Iranian government has suppressed the protesters.

In Afghanistan, with the return of the Taliban, it has been more than a year since secondary and high schools have been closed to Afghan girls. Taliban have also deprived women of work and political participation.

Since the start of Taliban control of Afghanistan in August 2021, women and girls have protested the Taliban’s restrictive policies and have demanded the right to education, work, and justice. These protests have always been met with violence.

Mansoor has been appointed as the Taliban governor in Badakhshan and replaced Abdul Ghani Faiq. Taliban’s Chief of Staff of Army Qari Fasihuddin Fitrat introduced Mansoor to the office.

Mansoor asked the people of Badakhshan not to let their children be influenced by propaganda and get killed.

Taliban has appointed a new governor at a time when last week, the NRF forces claimed that they had captured Shekay district of Badakhshan and arrested the group’s district chief for Shekay. The Taliban, however, denied the claim.

NRF forces have been fighting against the Taliban in several provinces including Panjshir, Baghlan, Takhar and Kapisa.

In recent weeks, there have been reports of fierce clashes between the Taliban and the NRF forces in Badakhshan province too.