A decade in limbo

A Decade in Limbo – The Situation of Afghanistan Refugees in Indonesia

A Decade in Limbo is a story of the people who have been living in Indonesia for up to 10 years. There are more ten thousand people from Afghanistan, about seven thousand being Hazaras. They range from toddlers to senior adults. They are mostly registered with UNHCR and IOM and waiting for a third country to give them asylum. Indonesia itself does not accept asylum seeker or refugees, it serves...

Bolaq Report Taliban's animosity to women's education

Bolaq Research Report: “Taliban Opposition with Education of Girls.” What do the People Say?

Abstract Women in Afghanistan for many years have faced gender discrimination for different reason under the pretext of Islam. Although violence and discrimination have deep roots in the tribal customs and the unacceptable traditions that the people adhere to, it is the wrong interpretation of Islam that they illogically try to justify. Development of the level of awareness and acceptance of training are important traits of human beings that have...

Hazaras sitting with nearly 100 victim coffins aftermath of Twin-Blast Terrorist Attack Jan102013, Quetta, Pakistan

Hazara Genocide in Pakistan

According to 2018 National Commission for Human Rights of Pakistan report, over 2,000 Hazaras have been killed and over 4,000 critically injured in the terrorist attacks. Of the Hazaras leaving Pakistan seeking safety offshore, nearly 500 drowned while migrating to Australia and thousands more compelled to migrate.

Anis Rezai

Childhood experience of Taliban

“Because We Are Hazara”: When Being a Hazara Never Ceases to Be a Crime in Afghanistan Listen to Audio version of this article on Bolaq’s YouTube Channel The Taliban's return to power has made Afghanistan a place where all kinds of violence and brutality are not only committed with widespread impunity but are also highly normalized. Although the extremist group has succeeded in manipulating the world into accepting its deceptive...

photographer-Hekmatullah Basseri

Denying Hazara Female Students: the bringers of change and modernity in Afghanistan

Photographer: Hekmatullah Basseri After closing female businesses and women-led organizations, the Taliban recently banned women from leaving their homes unless necessary, always accompanied by a male chaperon. They are banned from viewing public sports, or walking in public parks. After sending girls back home from schools, and forbidding women to get an education, the Taliban has ensured their point comes across with two attacks on the Kaaj Institute, located in...

Zarifa Ghafari

How Western documentary-makers are unwittingly supporting the divisive political agendas of Afghanistan’s Pashtun elite

On 22nd August 2022, Netflix revealed the release date for a “Clinton-produced” documentary called ‘In Her Hands’ directed by Tamana Ayazi and Marcel Mettelsiefen. The documentary is about Zarifa Ghafari, an Afghan woman, who is presented as “Afghanistan’s first female mayor”, as claimed by HiddenLight Productions’ co-founders, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton. It is commendable to see the achievements of women of Afghanistan are documented. However, there is an...

Title Image - One Year Taliban Rule - English

Afghanistan: The Situation of Hazaras During One Year of Taliban Rule

A year past since the reemergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. It has been a disastrous year for the people of Afghanistan especially the women, the Hazaras, as well as the religious minorities. A totalitarian regime has taken power in the country where every sign of progress is undermined and the achievements of the last twenty years have gone to waste. The viable media and press are stifled; the thriving...

Abdur Rahman Khan with British Officers

Hazara Genocide in Afghanistan (1892-1901)

The Hazara nation, now living mostly in Central Afghanistan region known as Hazarajat, faced the worst genocide at the hands of Amir of Kabul, Abdul Rehman Khan (1880-1901) in the late 19th century. Hundreds of thousands of Hazaras were massacred, sold out as slaves to neighboring countries, and forced to migrate to Central Asia, Iran, and the Indian Subcontinent after losing their lands, but unfortunately, despite all these horrors, their...