Campus Fight Highlights Ethnic Tensions

A recent clash between students at Kabul University shows the level of ethnic tension that still exists as the country tries to recover from decades of civil war.

The fight, which left three medical students injured, erupted over a small matter but soon developed into an inter-ethnic confrontation, with Pashtun and ethnic Tajik students facing off against each other.

In a sign of official nervousness, a report by a high-level commission set up by the university authorities to look into the incident has yet to be released. The head of the body has repeatedly avoided IWPR’s requests for an interview.

Tensions have remained high, exacerbated by the stress of summer exams. Since the day of the fight, July 20, extra police in riot gear have been on campus.

Public life in Kabul is dominated by former members of the Tajik-dominated Northern Alliance. They, together with international forces, defeated the fundamentalist Taleban regime - largely made up of Pashtuns who form the majority of the population.

Kabul University’s leafy campus is filled with portraits of the late Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, whose followers tend to hold sway on campus to the irritation and anger of Pashtun students.

One student, who did not want to be identified, told IWPR that a teacher had ordered him not to speak Pashtu, despite the fact that it along with Dari are the country’s official languages. Classes are taught in Dari, the lingua franca in Kabul.

Other students point to the fact that all 64 double rooms in the men’s hostel have been given to those from ethnic-Tajik provinces, while everyone else must sleep in 14- to 16-bed dormitories.

But Professor Bashir Halimi, the administrative deputy of Kabul Medical Institute, denies that Pashtuns face discrimination, saying that one of his top students, Sabir Ali, is a member of that ethnic group.

Halimi suggested that political forces may have sought to fan tensions following the campus fight, saying, “The dispute between students was a personal issue but there are some people who want to damage discipline and take advantage of the situation.”

Indeed, the fight was provoked by a fairly trivial matter – when two Tajik medical students, Said Salam and Mahboobullah, tried to hurry Sabir Ali’s examination of a patient so that they could have a turn.

“We exchanged a few bitter words, but didn’t fight…The following day, however, when backed by police and intelligence, they attacked us when we were in front of the Medical Institute. We were six, while they numbered 50,” said Ali.

He was left with his head and face bandaged and several of his friends were slightly injured. One of them, Zabihullah, insisted that when the fighting started, he heard Mahboobullah, whom he said is powerfully connected, telling people, “Let’s fight, the police are with us.”

While many students and eyewitness confirm this version of events, Mahboobullah’s supporters report things differently.

Another medical student, Abu Bakr, told IWPR that Sabir Ali and his friends had attacked Mahboobullah while he was preparing to pray - and that he had then retaliated.

Nisar Ahmad and Mohammad Ibrahim, who are ethnic Tajik students and classmates of those involved in the dispute, say they’re sorry for what happened to Sabir Ali. “All the Tajiks do not have the same views as Mahboobullah,” Ibrahim said.

Kabul University has long been a hotbed of political activism since the Sixties, but while taunts may fly daily between some sections of students, this rarely degenerates into fistfights.

Ghulam Hazrat, deputy chair of Kabul Medical Institute’s student association, says that, all in all, it was hard to determine exactly why the dispute arose.

“Because there was a big crowd in front of the institute, it was difficult to judge how many attackers there were. I think the fighting was not due to language or ethnic prejudice, but then I don’t reject the possibility of Inter-Services Intelligence [the Pakistani secret service] involvement,” he said.

The ISI were the prime backers of the Taleban - and it’s often claimed that they’re involved disturbances involving Pashtuns who’ve spent time in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Nazek Mir, head of police in the university area, firmly rejected the charge that police had taken sides, pointing out that the one man arrested was an ethnic Tajik.

“People say that we should have brought in everyone involved in the fighting but we can’t arrest all the students…we are still looking for Mahboobullah to clear the issue,” he said.

Rahimullah Samander is an IWPR editor/reporter in Kabul.