THIS is with reference to Irfan Hussain’s eye-opening letter (April 18) in which he has rightly explained the agony of the ethnic community in Balochistan.

Hazaras claim their legacy to 13th century warrior Changez Khan; therefore, they add the title ‘Changezi’ with their names.

The community has been continuously migrating from Afghan province Bamian and its surroundings, in the north of Kabul, where they held ancestral land all the way up to Balochistan.

The first blow came to them when Khan Abdur Rehman of Kabul started butchering them on sectarian grounds in the late 19th century.

Major groups started settling in parts of Balochistan. However, several families migrated during the 1960s and 1970s. The migration still continues as families are moving to Karachi and abroad.

As an enterprising and united community, they have excelled in major services and business opportunities in the last 30 years or so. General Musa Khan is an example who remained Governor of Balochistan for many years. I can remember my childhood days of the late 1980s when I saw this gentleman walking alone along Zarghoon Road. This was his simplicity and genuineness as he was also a tribal elder. He was a jewel of Balochistan.

The Hazara community enjoys good relations with the Pashtun and especially with the Baloch due to their linguistic similarities.

The only negative events I remember were the July 1984 one (where the Hazara were entangled with police and FC) and the one in the 1990s in which it had a conflict with Pashtun groups.

It is difficult to ascertain any responsibility on any one group for both events, as some foreign hands were playing their games in those times and still do.

Although the Balochistan government is incapable of staving off conflict due to corruption, I still see a foreign hand in the situation faced by the Hazara in Balochistan. The Hazaras are jewels of Balochistan and sons of the soil.

I request the authorities concerned to take stringent action against sectarian groups.

TARIQ BALOCH Karachi