Currently, the situation of Hazaras is really critical in Afghanistan, especially with the extremist group of the Taliban coming to power. I'm extremely worried about the Hazaras right now, at the moment, especially women and young women.
Before, even when there was a government that was supported through the international community, Hazaras were not safe to travel between the smaller cities. They were targeted everywhere. Now that the extremist Taliban is in power, we are more at risk of another genocide.
Even when I was in Kabul University, I experienced so many challenges in my time there as a Hazara. Even people at the university were telling me, “Hide your identity, because your eyebrows are a little bit darker.” But how could I hide my facial features? How could I hide my accent and the way I was speaking? I was brought up that way in my family. It was hurting me deeply.
I also witnessed that in the Hazara students' paperwork from the professors at the university, who said that this student was not present at the university during the exam. How could they do that? They were students.
There are so many stories that I can tell you as a person, as an individual, as a Hazara.
I know that this is not my story, and there have been thousands who can tell you. This situation really worries me, under the Taliban government. What will happen to our women, to our young generation, going around and living in that city under the extremists in power? What will happen to our men who work outside? We're very easily recognizable by our facial features.
We have witnessed many attacks in the past 10 years during what we are calling the most stable time in Afghanistan. I'm really worried, and I hope that the committee today hears us and does something for us because the wound and the suffering are unbearable for us. Even being in Canada, we are in between. We are suffering.