Former deputy head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, Asadullah Sadati, criticised the elimination of Ashura day, which is on Monday, from the national calendar.  

He said that the Hazara people want social justice.  

Meanwhile, the deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sher Mohammad Abas Stanikzai, said that based on the policy of the Islamic Emirate, the followers of all types of religion in the country are free to celebrate their religious ceremonies.  

“Based on the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, all Islamic section religions which are in Afghanistan, they are completely free to celebrate their religious days and no one will disturb them, even we have non-Islamic ethnic groups, they will also not be disturbed,” he said.   

Ashura was celebrated through a special ceremony in Afghanistan, but this year’s celebration seemed subdued to onlookers.

Speaking at the Ashura ceremony in Kabul, some officials of the former government criticized the elimination of the Ashura Day from the national calendar. They said that the Hazara ethnicity is being excluded from the government. 

They also criticized the absence of Islamic Emirate officials from the ceremony.   

“Ashura is no longer marked as a holiday in the Afghan calendar. I emphasized that it is necessary that the day of the martyr of the grandson of (Mohammad PBUH), the passenger of God and the biggest event of the Islamic history should be included as a holiday in the calendar of the country which has an Islamic government,” Sadati said.  

“Our youth are covered with dirt and blood, but … no one can separate us from Hussein,” said Sijadi Balkhabi, a former provincial council member.  

Participants also called for national unity and urged the Islamic Emirate to prevent ethnic and tribal discrimination in Afghanistan.  

“There should be all-out efforts for the provision of security for the people. Today we are endangered and we are in a state of systematic genocide,” Sadati said.