“Death to the Taliban”, “Down with the Government”, “Death to the Islamic State”, and “Death to Pakistan”, chanted the crowd.
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The killing of the seven Hazaras have mobilized not only the Hazara community but has also impelled other ethnic groups, such as the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Pashtuns.
The protest, unusual for Afghanistan in its scale and organisation, had been mostly peaceful today.
President Ashraf Ghani has condemned the killings and promised that police would investigate.
The case of the Hazaras, whose beheaded bodies were found Saturday in the country’s southeastern province of Zabul, appears to have galvanized many in war-battered Afghanistan. Officials say that the bodies found over the weekend – four men, one woman and two girls – were among dozens of Hazaras kidnapped in neighbouring Ghazni province earlier this year.
Protests began on Monday and on Wednesday in the Afghan capital demonstrators walked through the streets with the coffins of the victims, which included the body of Shukria.
“U.S. and global partners of Afghanistan who are here and have signed security pacts with us need to fulfill their responsibility”, Ahmad Shah Stanekzai, an organizer of the protest said.
“Would these leaders do the same if their own sons were abducted”, asked an elderly woman among the protesters.
“The deliberate murder of civilian hostages, including women and children, is particularly abhorrent”, said the statement.
Though it is unclear who is responsible, both the Taliban and IS affiliates have been blamed for the beheadings, which have prompted fears of sectarian bloodshed in the war-torn country. Killing and kidnapping civilians are “serious violations of worldwide humanitarian law”, UNAMA chief Nicholas Haysom said and called for the perpetrators to be held accountable. Then yesterday, the protest morphed into a larger demonstration with participation from other ethnic groups.
A health ministry spokesman said seven people were injured during the demonstration, adding that “some” of them had received bullet wounds.
Obaidullah Barakzai, a lawmaker from Uruzgan province, said: “We shouted and informed everyone that Daesh was on the rise in Afghanistan and the group was recruiting, but nobody listened to us”.
“Our people die in Kunduz and Zabul, but the problem is with politics in Kabul”, Ashna told CBS News over the phone.
Ghani has been stymied in part by opposition from parliament, which has rejected two proposed candidates for defense minister, leaving that post under a caretaker just when the Afgans have faced a nationwide Taliban offensive.
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“Since the district is under Taliban control, we can not confirm which group carried out the beheadings, ” he said.
