Abdul Ali Mazari

Infobox Celebrity
name = Abdul Ali Mazari
Nickname = Baba Mazari Or Ustad Mazari
caption =
birth_date = 1946
birth_place = Chahar Kint, Balkh, Afghanistan
death_date = March, 1995
death_place = Somewhere in the outskirts of Ghazni, Afghanistan
occupation = Hazara leader, Leader of Hezbe Wahdat during the Soviet-Afghan War and Afghan Civil War
footnotes = Known for his political and military leadership of the Hazaras.

Abdul Ali Mazari (1946 - March 1995) was a political leader of the Hezbe Wahdat during and following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. [cite web
url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IK08Df02.html
title= Afghanistan rocked by northern bombing
publisher=Asia Times Online
accessdate=2008-05-28
last=
first=] He belonged to the Hazara people. He said that the solution to the divisiveness in Afghanistan was in federalism, where every ethnic group would have specific constitutional rights. [Mazari, Abdul Ali (1995 (1374 AH)) "Iḥyā-yi huvyyat: majmū‘ah-’i sukhanrānīha-yi shahīd-i mazlūm ... Ustād ‘Abd ‘Ali Mazāri (rah)" ("Resurrecting Identity: The collected speeches of Abdul Ali Mazari") Cultural Centre of Writers of Afghanistan, Sirāj, Qum, Iran, [http://worldcat.org/oclc/37243327 OCLC 37243327] ]
In his speeches he repeated that his aim is to remove the discrimination against the Hazara's because of biased policies of the central government and will strive to create a situation in Afghanistan where Hazara's will be given access to justice and equality by the center.

Early life

An ethnic Hazara, Ustad Abdul Ali Mazari was born in the village of Charkent, south of the northern city of Mazari Sharif. Hence, his surname is "Mazari". He began his primary schooling in theology at the local school in his village, then went to Mazari Sharif, then Qom in Iran, and then to Najaf in Iraq.

Political Life

In Iran, Mazari was imprisoned and tortured after being accused of conspiracy against the Shah of Iran in assistance with Iranian Shi'ite clerics.

Simultaneously with the occupation of Afghanistan by the Red Army, Abdul Ali Mazari returned to his birthplace and gained a 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.

Hizb e Wahdat

Abdul Ali Mazari was one of the founding members and the first leader of Hezbe Wahdat Islamic Afghanistan ( [http://www.wahdat.net Islamic Unity Party] ). In the first Congress of the party, he was elected leader of the Central Committee. During the second Congress, he was elected 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 rebels, leading to a coup d'état and the eventual downfall of the regime in Kabul. Then Tajik president of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani, his closest ally Ahmed Shah Masoud and commander Abdurrasul Sayyaf were responsible for the deaths of nearly 1000 in the west Kabul district of Afshar, predominantly resided by the Hazara ethnic group. was followed by the loss of the district by Hizb-e-Wahdat party.

Civil War

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 the Hizb e Wahdat and the forces of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Abdur Rasool Sayyaf and Taliban. Somehow the relation of Mazari with the general Abdul Rashid Dostum was quite neutral sometimes ally depending on the situation. 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 Abdur Rasool Sayyaf assisted by traitors in Hizb e Wahdat.

The Massoud-Hekmatyar-Sayyaf triangle never considered Hazaras to be of significance in the Afghan government. This is what Mazari wanted: "We (Hazara people) must be an equal partner in this government and in its decision making processes. The Hazaras had been and have been targets of mass scale ethnic and religious persecution. They have never started any war, but defended themselves against the aggressions of Sayyaf-Taliban. The majority of the Hazaras are followers of the Shi'ite branch of Islam, in contrast to the overall majority of Sunnis in Afghanistan, regardless of ethnic group. It wasn't until the battle for West Kabul that Hazaras came to global consideration as a potential power in Afghanistan - they have always been ignored in the past 200 years.

Taliban betrayal and death

Mullah Burjan, the Taliban leader, requested a personal meeting with Mazari. Mazari set off 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.

Taliban tortured and mercylessly murdered Mazari, They trough him alive in midair out of a helicopter on Ghazny province but they falsely claimed later that Mazari and his companions tried to escape while being transferred in helicopters to Kandahar, the Taliban stronghold. His death body was found in Ghazni.

Notes