Hazara Town (Urdu: ہزارہ ٹاؤن,
Hazara Town (Urdu: ہزارہ ٹاؤن, Hazaragi: آزره ٹاون) is a lower- to middle-income area on the western outskirts of Quetta, Pakistan with a population of up to 70,000, of which an approximately three-forth are Hazara people with minority Baloch and Pathan tribes on southern section of Hazara Town.[1] Hazara Town, like the twin suburb of Mehr Abad, was populated by Hazara over the course of 19th and 20th century due to thepersecution of Hazara people by Afghan rulers in their ancestral homeland Hazaristan in central Afghanistan.[2]
Hazara Town begins from Brewery Road near Bolan Medical College and continue toKirani road. The area has a geographical importance, which makes up the largest part of Chiltan Town of Quetta city.
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[edit]History
The area was established in 1986 by Haji Nasir Ali an ethnic Hazara, who bought the land from a Kirani Baloch family and built housing there. Many ethnic Hazaras from Afghanistan who came after starting of Afghan war moved to this settlement.
[edit]Hazaras in Balochistan
Hazaras had been seasonal menial workers in India, who came here in winter months to work in coal mines, road construction etc. during the British expansion in Sindh, Balochistan and North West Frontier. The earliest record of Hazaras in the areas of present day Pakistan are found in the Broad-foot's sappers company in 1835 at Quetta. This sappers company participated in the First Anglo Afghan War also. Besides this Hazaras also worked in the agriculture farms in Sindh and construction of Sukkur barrage.
In his seminal book War and Migration, Alessandro Monsutti classifies the Hazara migration toBalochistan in the following phases:
[edit]From 1878-1891
Following the second Anglo-Afghan war, the first Hazaras came to Quetta to seek employment inBritish-run companies under the Raj. They are thought to have worked on the building of roads and the Bolan Pass railway as well as enlisting in the British army of India. At that time, there could have been no more than a few hundred Hazaras in Balochistan. The subjugation of Hazarajat by Afghan emirAbdul Rahman, between 1891 and 1893, triggered a mass exodus of Hazaras to Turkistan, Khorasanand Balochistan.
[edit]From 1901 to 1933
The situation in Afghanistan returned to normal under Habibullah (1901–1919), the son of Abdur Rahman. He offered amnesty to the Hazaras but this proved to be of little help in improving the lot of the Hazara in Afghanistan. Many Hazara were reluctant to return to Afghanistan and determined to rebuild their lives in Quetta. In 1904, the 106th Hazara Pioneers, a separate regiment for the Hazaras formed by the British, offered greater careers prospects, social recognition and economic success.
[edit]From 1933-1971
The regiment of Hazara Pioneers was disbanded in 1933. Deprived of this social and professional outlet, Hazaras went to settle in Quetta between the 1930s and 1960s, although the process of migration never completely dried up.
[edit]From 1971-1978
Following the 1971 drought, Hazaras settled in Quetta or went to Iran in search of work. Between 1973 and 1978, conflict over thePushtunistan issue between Pakistan and the Afghan regime, was another factor of Hazara migration to Pakistan, since President Daud Khan of Afghanistan saw the Hazara as Pakistan's allies. Following the Communist coup in April 1978 and the Soviet intervention in December 1979, the migratory movement assumed hitherto unprecedented dimensions.
[edit]People
Hazara Town residents are predominantly Hazara and speak Hazaragi as their mother tongue. Some of Hazara Town’s residents arrived as refugees in Quetta in 1996[3] when the Taliban regime in Afghanistan started ethnic and religious persecution of Hazaras. They initially stayed in mosques in Quetta using Hazara Town as a transit point to move on to Iran, Turkey and beyond. Local Hazaras are involved in small scale trade and businesses within Hazara Town and the city of Quetta. The main sources of income for men are to work as labourers in coal mines in Balochistan, engage in small scale shopkeeping and daily wage work.
In Pakistan most of the Hazara live in two neighbourhoods around the city of Quetta, Hazara Town and Mehrabad. Saira Batool a Hazara girl became one of the first ever female pilots in Pakistan Air Force. Hazaras are also politically active in Quetta and are represented by Hazara Democratic Party, a secular liberal democratic party headed by Abdul Khaliq Hazara.[4] Hussain Ali Yousafi, chairman of the Hazara Democratic Party, was shot dead by unknown gunmen on January 26, 2009, in the city of Quetta. His assassins remain at large to this day. A well known Hazara in Pakistan was General Muhammad Musa, who served as Commander in Chief of the Pakistani Army between 1958 to 1966. He also served as Governor of West Pakistan.
[edit]Educational institutes
[edit]Personalities
- General Muhammad Musa, former Pakistani Army Commander in Chief
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