Eventful and Tragic: Yakaolang Massacre was an Ethnic Cleansing of the Sadat People in Bamyan

Bayan News – Several family members of the victims of the Yakaolang Massacre in Bamyan and human rights defenders claim that this event was an ethnic cleansing of the Sadat people, who were brutally killed due to their ethnicity.

According to accounts, the Yakaolang Massacre dates back to the first period of Taliban rule, during which it is said that the ruling forces at the time carried out a mass killing of a group of Sadat people on January 8, 2001, for various reasons. The number of victims is estimated to be around 480 individuals.

To commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the Yakaolang Massacre in Bamyan province, a group of social media users, families of the victims, and human rights defenders gathered online on Wednesday night (January 9) to discuss and examine the dimensions of this event.

Sayed Ali Hashemi, representing the families of the victims in this gathering, referred to the deceased as the most unjustly killed individuals of the century in Afghanistan and added that both young and old were targeted before the eyes of their family members.

Mr. Hashemi emphasized that the Yakaolang incident was another Karbala and highlighted that the martyrs of this event were the most oppressed martyrs of the century in Afghanistan.

He further stated that he was not present at the scene during the event but had fled to the farthest area of Yakaolang with his family. Hashemi also recounted reports that among the relatives of the martyrs was a 14-year-old girl who had come three days later to transport her father’s body and had great difficulty in doing so.

Similarly, Sediqullah Tawhidi, a journalist, stated in this online program that the Yakaolang event is a painful incident in Afghanistan’s contemporary history that will never be forgotten.

Mr. Tawhidi accused the previous government of not investigating this event and claimed that they neglected it under the pretext of national unity, while national unity cannot be achieved by turning a blind eye to atrocities.

The journalist further stated that the previous government, including Hamid Karzai and other political elites, sought to conceal the bitter Yakaolang incident in order to preserve their positions and opted for shameful silence regarding the martyrs of this event.

Meanwhile, Abdullah Ahmadi, a human rights activist, stated with reference to published statistics that more than 480 individuals were killed in the Yakaolang event, houses and residences were set on fire, and the bodies of the victims were left on the cold winter snow for a long time.

Mr. Ahmadi made it clear that the Yakaolang event was a manifestation of a crime against humanity.

This human rights activist accused the previous Afghan government of failing to investigate the Yakaolang incident. According to Ahmadi, there were individuals within the government who were complicit in this crime and even attempted to pass the amnesty law in parliament at that time to protect the criminals who were part of the Karzai and Ghani administrations.

However, different reports have been published regarding the Yakaolang Massacre that occurred twenty-three years ago from today, as it is said to have taken place during the first period of Taliban rule.