Two communities who were locked in conflicting claims on land in Balkh province have sorted out their differences and established a high school.
Nahr Shahi is one of the biggest districts in the province. It is close to the capital Mazar-e-Sharif, and was sparsely populated until 2001 when people displaced by drought and conflict from Faizabad district in neighbouring Badakhshan were sheltered in the Sakhi camp. The internally displaced people (IDPs) were permitted by the local government to build houses.
Simultaneously, various Hazara tribespeople also migrated to the area and received land deeds from local authorities, and a tussle for land between the two communities started. Relations deteriorated between the two sides as each claimed a bigger share of the land.
Ali jan who is more popularly called Karbalayee told Killid the animosity simmered for four years. Originally from
Qara Bagh district in Ghazni province, he says the Hazaras had spread over 1,900 jeribs in four big villages that were managed by qaryadars (village chiefs). He says the some 2,500 families here are Shiites.
Haji Yar Mohammad is one of those who was displaced from Faizabad and settled in Sakhi camp area. He is a qaryadar, and says some 200 displaced families are living in the camp. He claims that the former president Burhanudin Rabbani handed over some 1,420 jeribs land to displaced families through a decree.
Both qaryadars say that as the population increased on either side, objections to the construction of new houses became sharper. Soon the rift had become a social boycott on both sides.
Mediators help
With neither side willing to step back, the feud seemed headed to a full-blown conflict when the Balkh provincial council intervened. Qari Abdul Rauf, the erstwhile head of its conflict management committee was to play a vital role.
Qari Raul told Killid that he called for the land ownership documents after speaking to people on both sides. The documents dating back to 2006 cleared all the confusion. The two sides accepted the verdict of the committee.
Both qaryadars, Ali Jan and Haji Mohammad, are all praise for the sincerity of the conflict management committee. It is both a quicker and more transparent process, the latter adds. The peace between the IDPs from Badakhshan and Hazaras has held.
Testimony to the camaraderie is the Rah-e Marefat High School, which admits students from both sides. The school has been established on land that they donated. Money for the project was collected from each and every family. There is not enough room for all the students – many of the classrooms are in tents – but their excitement in being in school is palpable.
Zahra, who is a Hazara student in grade eight, shares her dreams of becoming a doctor. Her classmates cheer her on when she speaks to Killid, particularly Suraya from Sakhi camp who sits by her side. Suraya only wishes the school had classrooms, tables and chairs, and most important, more books.
The Rah-e Marefat High School doubles up as a girls’ school in the morning and for boys in the afternoon.
Darab Ali Husaini, the headmaster, is proud the school has educated 2,000 children so far. His students, he says, have done well in the university examination, kanker.
Qari Rauf believes the conflict management committee has helped solve many property, blood feuds and other social conflicts in rural areas.
(*) Killid took the initiative of covering cases that show peace and nonviolence are possible in our country. Hundreds of cases confirm it. The stories are also disseminated by all Killid radios and community radios.
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