Afghanistan: Shia community urges Taliban to formalize sect, protect citizenship rights

Kabul [Afghanistan], December 28 (ANI): Shias, who have faced persecution in Afghanistan, on Tuesday, urged the Taliban to formalize their sect and protect their citizenship rights in the framework of an inclusive government.
In the statement that was titled "Demands and ideas of Shiite people in Afghanistan," the Shias asked that for protection of their all political, economic, societal, cultural, freedom of speech, and political participation, reported Khaama Press.
They also asked for the creation of exclusive courts of Shiite people where they can implement their own law.
Further, they added that the Afghan government will not be inclusive without their participation as they form 25 per cent of the Afghan population, reported Khaama Press.
The development comes as a number of Shiite leaders met with the political deputy of PM Abdul Kabir on Sunday, December 26 and they were given assurance of their security in Afghanistan.
For decades, violence has torn through Afghanistan's Shiite community, perpetuated first by the Taliban, who consider Shiites heretics and in more recent years by the Islamic State - Khorasan (ISIS-K).
When the Taliban, hard-line Sunni Muslims, seized power in August, they vowed to end decades of bloodshed and sought to reassure Afghan Shiites that they would not again be their targets, as they were during the group's previous rule from 1996 to 2001.
This time around, the Taliban have allowed Shiites to observe the holy holiday of Ashura; they dispatched a Shiite cleric to do outreach in Shiite communities; they visited Shiite mosques to demonstrate solidarity and they vowed that the new government would keep them safe.
But with two suicide bombings by ISIS-K at mosques in October, which together killed more than 90 people and injured hundreds of others, stoked fears if the Taliban would allow the Islamic State's campaign against Afghan Shiites to go unchecked. (ANI)