Hazara Wars in Afghanistan p5
The Pashtuns made the Hazaras the center of the slave trade. From here slaves were taken in large numbers and sold across the country. Amir Abdul Rahman also legalized the slave trade by taxing it for the first time. Hazara people started being sold like sheep at high prices. The limit was that a Hazara slave could be bought for a mere ten seers, wheat or barley. The saddest aspect of this slave trade was that the Hazaras, impoverished by government taxes and fines, were forced to sell their wives and children themselves as slaves. A local Australian newspaper,
The Argus, also revealed in a report that Emir Abdul Rahman had sold ten thousand Hazara slaves in Kabul to cover the war expenses incurred during the rebellion. Within months of the suppression of the insurgency, the very existence of the Hazaras in Afghanistan was in jeopardy, with even a top government official admitting that the Hazaras were about to disappear from Afghanistan. The Hazara tribes also realized that their systematic genocide was taking place. If they are to maintain their existence and get rid of slavery, they will have to take up arms again.
So at the beginning of 1893, they revolted again. But this time the Hazara tribes decided that they would tell Amir Abdul Rahman why they were forced to revolt. The rebel leaders wrote a letter to the Amir. In this letter, he wrote very clearly why he was forced to rebel. He wrote that abuse of Afghan officers, excessive taxes, desecration of women, massacre of common people and destruction of their homes, slavery, Stv Urdu accusations of blasphemy and appointment of Sunni scholars instead of Shia scholars are the reasons for this rebellion. .
He also wrote that our people who had surrendered during the first rebellion and fought against their own people as loyal soldiers of the government were also being oppressed. At the end of this letter, it was said that the Hazara tribes have been forced to take up arms against the government for their salvation and freedom from slavery. Abd al-Rahman did not reply to this letter and got busy with preparations for war. On the other hand, the Hazara rebels had also understood that this was the last battle for their survival.
If they lose, they will disappear from Afghanistan. So this time they decided to fight to the last bullet and the last soldier. Then a battle ensued, in which the boats were soon embanked. The Dosto rebels captured a large area of the Hazaras before the main Afghan army arrived. Government representatives were expelled from these areas. Roads to Kabul were also closed. Most of the forts of the Afghan army in Hazara were captured and weapons were also looted from there. The relief forces that came to help these forts were also defeated.
Thus, the Hazara rebels strengthened their position. Meanwhile, the new Afghan army from Kabul also came to meet them with full preparation. However, this army faced severe difficulties in narrow valleys and mountain passes. The Hazara rebels continued to attack them from the heights. These attacks caused heavy losses to the Afghan army. Numbers, however, were once again in the favor of the Afghan emir, who finally broke through the insurgent siege in the narrow valleys and mountain passes and emerged into the open.
Bamiyan city and many other important areas were also captured by them. Then an endless series of hand-to-hand battles began. Estimate the losses on both sides in these battles as several battalions of the Afghan army were wiped out. Other battalions also suffered heavy casualties. Eighty-five percent of a Herat battalion’s men were killed. There are usually up to 1,000 soldiers in a battalion, so you can understand how high the casualties were for the Afghan forces.
On the other hand, the loss of the Hazara tribes was that the heads of hundreds of their fighters were being sent to Bamiyan and various cities on a daily basis. The series reportedly continued for several months. My Curious Fellows This battle ended with Hazara fighters winning despite heavy casualties. Yes, the fierce resistance of the Hazara tribesmen finally forced Amir Abdul Rahman to kneel. He withdrew his army and accepted all the demands of the Hazara rebels. Thus, by the middle of 1893, this fight ended.
