A Great Leader, Who Smiled to the Nation, Was Killed but Also Reborn

Yet again history has witnessed when blood has coloured the road of existence. Time became pregnant when the red blood of Yousufi flashed on the earth and filled the sky. From now onwards every Hazara’s mother will give birth to thousands of Hussain Ali Yousufis. A brave leader smiled to the nation and bravery was reborn when he was killed. His martyrdom shook us all, woke up those who were sleeping, and stood up those who were sitting. It called out those who were silent, brought hope for hopeless ones, and reunited the Hazaras in Quetta at the most needed moment. The passionate story and bravery of our nation again marked a new chapter of freedom, equality and justice, and opened the red page of spiritual and moral success to the human societies of the Hazaras.

Did you forget? When they inhumanly and brutally tortured and killed Abdul Khaleq (Khaliqoo), millions of Abdul Khaleqs were reborn. Don’t you remember? When similar terrorists martyred our great leader Ustad Mazari, millions of Mazari were reborn. From far away villages in Afghanistan to the other side of the Pacific Ocean, from the hills of Marry Abad to the North Atlantic Ocean, the Hazara nation stood strongly with full confidence and eagerness. We kept high hopes on the future and looked so far as the horizon of hope, freedom, justice and equality. The horizon is where the sun dies for those unprincipled and malicious terrorists, but our nation always believes that the sun never dies for the human spirit. We believed in our truthfulness, remained faithful to Shaheed Mazari’s school of thought and revolution, and Baba Mazari’s confidence and bravery rebuilt our confidence. Therefore, we called out and spoke loudly and clearly so that the deafest ear in the world would hear our loud voices, demanding justice and freedom.

Dear Sisters and Brothers of shared destiny!
Today once more, the time has come to judge our passion and tolerance and test our abilities and confidence. We need to believe in ourselves brothers, to trust our shared destiny, be courageous in our lives, hopeful in the future and supportive of each other. It is the time to demonstrate because it is not just a painful time for the Hazaras in Quetta, Pakistan; it is the shared fate and collective destiny of the Hazara nation all over the globe. It doesn’t matter where we were born. In the mountain lands of Hazara-zameen in Afghanistan, or in the narrow streets of Marry Aabad, or in a forgotten land of Gul-shahr east of Iran, or any other distant places on Planet Earth. We are all one. We probably speak in different Persian/Hazaragi accents, but we are all one. No political barriers or geographical boundaries can separate us or keep us apart, because we are the branches of the same tree. The branches, are perhaps heading in different directions or are positioned in many locations, but all reach to one root. Therefore, we need to stand up side-by-side, raise our voices louder than before and be united. We stand against all evils and devils, who ferociously with cowardice get out of their religious caves, and run like wounded rats and attack our peaceful and human-loving nation.

Dear Friends
Shaheed Yousufi was from the branch located in a dusty city with a big heart called Quetta, Yusufi was a man who changed our nation’s history by making history for more than twenty-five years, until he became history himself. Yousufi was a brilliant man, a man of many men, who had many bright sides and amazing talents. He strived, fought, and made every effort to make his nation known and recognised nationally and internationally. He defended his nation’s pride, values and identity. He was a man who struggled peacefully and worked hard all his life for social justice and equality, civil and human rights, and dignity and liberty.

Yousufi was not only a brilliant politician or political party’s leader. He was an academic, cultural and political analyst, a brilliant artist, a fantastic writer, an interesting poet, a passionate leader, and a liberal man of peace and human virtues, who strongly believed in non-violent struggle and democracy.

Yousufi challenged radicalism and extremism and an aggressive method of politics in Pakistan. He was one of the moderate liberal politicians who opened a new democratic window of politics in Quetta. He emphasized fair, non-violent competition among all opposition parties and the importance of political independence.

Ladies and Gentlemen!
Shaheed Yousufi’s legacy, talents and achievements cannot be limited to his political career. He was an ambitious and sincere artist and writer who dug the foundation for arts in our society. He gave importance and high value to the arts, in general, and especially to Hazaragi national arts. Without getting too emotional, I think he was one of the founding fathers of Hazaragi arts (dramas, stage shows, political and social critic shows, critic poems and speeches, comic shows, etc.).

Yosufi was an artistic man of smiles, hopes, wishes and happiness. He brought smiles to our lips, hopes to our hearts, wishes to our eyes, and passion to our desires. He brought determination in our beliefs, talent in our brains, satisfaction in our confidence, colour to our culture, arts to our societies and pride in our nation. And now I hope that his martyrdom brings unity, respect and trust to our lives.

We, the Hazaras, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain peacefully protest and assemble here to strongly condemn this vicious act of terror: the assassination of a great leader, a brilliant artist — Hussain Ali Yousufi. We, from the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, pay our deepest sympathy and condolences to the Hazara nation all over the world, the Hazara Democratic Party and especially to Shaheed Yousufi’s honoured family.

Today these peaceful protests are evidence of our political awareness, social understanding and national unity. And so it is the time to wake up, get closer and communicate our thoughts and beliefs, share our feelings and sympathy, prove our confidence and passion and understand the horrific time and difficult situation which our people face in Quetta, Pakistan. As you all know, for decades the Hazaras of Quetta have been helpful and supportive towards all Hazaras, especially the Hazaras of Afghanistan during the 30 years of civil war. The Hazaras of Quetta have always stood side-by-side their Afghan brothers, shared the good times and bad times, supported and hosted them at the most critical and crucial times. We must appreciate their support, emotions and generosity, and today it is our responsibility to help, assist and support them in any possible and peaceful ways.

Dear friends!
We do not come here blindly blaming Pakistan’s democracy or the Pakistani nation as a whole or any other communities in the country; we do not come here to spread hatred or cause trouble. We come here to ask fundamental questions: questions of life, questions of the right of existence, and questions of natural and civil rights of men before the law.

Is living as a minority community in Pakistan a crime?
Are we guilty because we are the Hazaras?
Are we guilty because our belief is different than others?

I ask this question of the democratic political State of Pakistan, civil rights organisations, human rights activists, fair and just politicians, honest writers, artists and journalists and all peace-loving Pakistani individuals.

Don’t you know the peaceful and education-adoring Hazaras?
Don’t you know how deeply the Hazara society has integrated and contributed to Pakistani society, from education to sports, from politics to arts, from culture to social welfare, and social activities to common interests of Pakistan?

Our peaceful aim is to call upon Pakistani government and police force to act quickly, effectively and to bring those criminal enemies of humans and humanity to justice. Those who kill in the name of religion, and those who spread hatred in the name of ethnic communities and nations must be jailed and must be punished for their inhuman acts and activities.

Dear individuals who suffered of terrorism!
I call upon those dark minded cowardly terrorists! The Hazaras are brave, honest, hardworking children of the earth, and one of the most suffering but victorious generations of the world history. We have experienced cruelty and violence; we have been tested and tortured for the simple reason of our existence; we have witnessed genocide and massacre because we are Hazara and believers of the right path of Islam and humanity; we experienced the martyrdom of a great leader Baba Mazari, which was a great loss in Hazara’s history. If we successfully and faithfully survived all those painful and difficult periods of life as we faced them, now I’m sure we will move on by putting strong steps forward and will succeed in this difficult time once more.

We do not come here to mourn and grieve only or to verbally condemn the assassination of a great man; we will not beg for mercy or cry and let ourselves and our nation down; we will not let our enemies rejoice and celebrate their cowardly act, their, so called, victory.

We will rise and stand up again and again; we will raise our voices louder than before and continue our life journey confidently with high morals, hope and courage.

You will get tired of killing us, but we never get tired of giving blood and life for justice, freedom, our human rights, integrity and identity; you kill one, we will be reborn in thousands, as Hussain Ali Yousufi already has been reborn in thousands. We never accept defeat because we invest our blood and lives in our victory and existence; so we never give up because we never get tired.

Dear Friends!
Mazari and Yousufi met dawn on the horizon of time and departed to the sky to reach their God, but left great, pure and heavy legacies on our shoulders to carry safely and pass to the new generations.

Thank you
May God bless the great spirits of Shohadaa, especially Shaheed Yousufi.

Hafizullah Khoram
London-UK
08/02/2009