happened during the ruthless campaigns of afghan king abdur rehman
Yes I have been reading about these lately...very sad context to their story at large.
They seem a noble well-meaning community. They look quite distinct and fascinating to me too.
Quite sad they have been targeted this way over so many years.
There was some articles I came across....they are a high prevalence (compared to %) not only in military as kaptaan says...but also professions in general like doctors etc. Its a thing you often see with minorities in general world over that have good aptitude.
But again this make their best people easy targets, there was some mass targetted assasination in KArachi at sometime in the 90s? of Hazara doctors or something. It seem very correlated to what Zia unleashed broadly like you referenced.
When you define a religion, you have to define it properly. So you can't just say muslim is muslim, you need to define what a muslim is and what about those that profess things differently like he shia.
Yes, this is the slippery slope. It is why I feel any country ought to do away it...esp at modern nationstate formation. Israel is only other one (though there is a large ethnic definition w.r.t "Jew" that overrides the religion one), and their's is very specific case that is not comparable imo (and they also have attracted major problems externally and internally by doing that).
Pakistan if it was proper separate nation historically should have defined so geographically (eg. indus river basin), and postulated
that as being concept for nationhood...and just accepted every identity (religion-based or otherwise) within it as is....and simply religions/identities within it exist in whatever % they do.
There would have been no need for partition migrations...and unnatural union with Bangladesh. But it raises uncomfortable questions in the present time for most people, given now its all done and done w.r.t the defined original conception basis (with Jinnah who's mother tongue is Gujarati).
Instead religion just become something to keep defining as you said....and over time people get left out (and targetted later) simply by political expedience precedence....because cleaving and hewing across whatever seam consolidates majority or a plurality like nothing else does. Extreme majoritarianism is a politician's best situation....but a country's worst one (it entrenches into top-down collectivism at cost of bottom-up civic nationalism and the individual's inherent rights).
This has severe consequence downstream. Most people in Pakistan in the elite or layman dont think like you and Kaptaan and certainly do not action-organise at least for it....as we would see it manifest in crucial things long time ago...and they would likewise start to be corrected now, but they aren't.
Hazaras are shia and they stand out look wise lot of time on top. A particularly easy fault line for raw unprincipled power to hammer on.
