Local sources in Khas Uruzgan district in central Uruzgan province have reported that an elderly Hazara man was killed in the Joy Naw village, following the forceful cutting down of fruit trees belonging to Hazara villagers.
Local sources told KabulNow that Haji Bostan, a farmer, was killed near his home by two unknown armed men on Friday.
The identity of the assailants is not clear, but the source alleged that the people who cut down the fruitful trees in the area on Saturday committed the murder.
According to the source, this is the 14th killing of a Hazara villager in Joy Naw village since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021.
The Taliban have not yet commented on the incident.
On Saturday, a resident of Joy Naw village told KabulNow that nearly 200 fruitful trees belonging to Hazara villagers were forcibly cut down in the area, located just 300 meters away from a Taliban checkpoint.
The source claimed that members of the Pashtun’s Kotahzai tribe, who resides close to the Hazara neighborhood of Joy Naw, were behind chopping the trees.
Joy Naw is a Hazara-majority village in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. The surrounding villages are largely inhabited by ethnic Pashtuns. Before the Taliban takeover in August 2021, nearly 1,500 Hazara families lived in Joy Naw. However, according to sources, conflict and violence have forced many to flee, and today only about 300 families remain.
Sources accuse ethnic Pashtuns, who largely reside in the neighboring areas to Joy Naw, of abusing and violently targeting members of the Hazara community. They say that their farms have been burned, homes damaged, land seized, and several villagers tortured or killed in the past two years.
Hazara villagers in Joy Naw fear the escalating “systematic violent campaign” against them is an attempt to forcibly displace the remaining families from their native lands and homes.
A recent report by Etilaat Roz shows that the heavy presence of Kuchis across the Khas Uruzgan district is threatening Hazaras villagers and has made livelihoods difficult for them.
Hazara villagers have complained that they can no longer graze their cattle as their rights to pasture lands have been curbed and their crops have been burned down.
