The woman who first testified that Pashtuns are not in the majority in Afghanistan spoke the truth that few men still dare to speak...
Author: Yaqub Yasna, professor of history, culture, and literature, member of the Sangar Advisory Board
It has always been challenging to talk about justice and freedom because each ethnic and religious group has its own idea and perception of them. Therefore, it will be very difficult to keep everyone satisfied with your article, speech, and behavior and also be on the side of justice and freedom. If a person wants to be on the side of justice and freedom, he must choose between ethnic, religious, and social interests or justice and freedom. In the choice of justice and freedom, both are impossible; That is, one cannot adhere to religious, ethnic, etc. interests and keep everyone happy, and call yourself a supporter of justice and freedom.
Soraya Baha chose the difficult path of justice and freedom for many years. She faced family, social, ethnic, and religious problems, but remained on the side of justice and freedom. She used all ways and means to achieve them. At a time when social networks such as Facebook and... weren't very popular, Ms. Baha used a web blog and wrote about justice and freedom.
I first made the acquaintance of Soraya Baha in 2004 through her articles and followed her material. I used to read her notes as soon as she posted them on the blog. At that time, those who were active on the Internet used blogs, and blogging was very popular. I also created a blog and started writing on it. From that time (2005) to this day I read her writings.
With the spread of Facebook and social media in the world and Afghanistan, and the disappearance of blogs, Soraya Baha began her writing career on Facebook. Along with her Facebook activities, she published the book “Thrown to the Wind” (“Raho dar bod”), which revealed the untold truths of more than half a century of the history of Afghanistan, from the time of Zahir Shah to the period of the Mujahideen. I wrote about the book "Thrown by the Wind", I do not want to go into its details here. But if I want to classify Soraya Bach's compositions in general, I can mention the following:
Protection of Human Rights and contemporary values
The criterion in Ms. Baha's writings is human rights. It doesn't matter if it's Uzbek, Hazara, Tajik, Pashtun, etc. If the human rights of an individual and a group of people under any name, ethnic, religious, or gender, were violated, she wrote and reported it. The fact that some group oppresses people on the basis of ethnic fanatical views exposes them to criticism without fear or reflection. In her work, she emphasizes respect for modern values, citizenship, and individual rights, rather than herd orientation, because the primitive herd attitude leading to ethnic fascism does not serve the interests of any political or ethnic group in Afghanistan.
She criticizes the Pashtun tribal leaders for their herdism and Pashtunwali and says that by herdism they pushed modern values out of Pashtun society and brought hardship and suffering to non-Pashtun peoples. She also criticized those groups that imitated the ethnic nervousness of the Pashtun leaders. Humanity was essential to Soraya Baha, otherwise, it didn’t matter to her who she was dealing with, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Pashtuns, etc.
Protection of women's rights
One of Soraya Baha's writing and media activities has been advocacy for women's rights, from the time she blogged until now. Her criticism usually focused on two groups: a group that holds patriarchal, sexist, and primitive beliefs and opposes the rights of women, and people who use women's rights as a tool, implement projects and earn money in the name of women, and commit corruption.
No matter what ethnicity the anti-feminist and primitive thinking group belonged to, she rose against it. She criticized them and did not even take into account their religious attitudes and stated in her writings that religious attitudes and beliefs are the sources of misogyny. She also criticized those who dealt with women as a tool to get the project. It does not matter if these project performers are men or women.
Soraya Baha defended and supported women for their rights, and, like many women, she did not pretend to be an activist in defense of women's rights and human rights, because she considered this cause her human goal and did not try to take grants and projects under this pretext, or being named a women's rights activist, or receiving a special title or nickname.
Criticism of Tajik political leaders
Soraya Baha is a Tajik from Kabul. She knows all ethnic groups well and has interacted with people from different ethnic groups in Afghanistan. But the basis of her criticism of individuals, political and public leaders is not ethnic. Although she is a Tajik herself, she is most critical of Tajik political leaders and does not have the ethnic populist view of political, social, and cultural issues that is characteristic of any Tajik politician, and if someone criticizes Tajik politicians, she will not respond ethnically and support this politician.
As far as I have read her writings, there is no red line in her criticism. From her point of view, you can criticize anyone and any race, ethnicity, or religion. But in criticism, it considers the side of justice, understands the purpose and dignity of the other side, and, if it is worthy of praise, praises it.
The language of facts
What is very important in the works of Soraya Bach is the presentation of truths and especially those that were organized and purposefully hidden by ethnic governments. She has not heard the truths she writes, she has witnessed and seen many of these truths. Because she studied at the Faculty of Economics at Kabul University and saw how the Ikhvan-ul-Muslimin, Khalq, and Parcham movements were formed, how the government of Zahir and Daoud fell, and how the government of Khalq and Parcham arose.
The hidden truths found in Thrown to the Wind are not found in any other book. The importance of the book's facts lies in the fact that the author was a witness behind the scenes of political events and saw what she describes. For example, she witnessed the incident and the scene when during the census of the times of Daud, the Pashtun people did not become a majority, but an order came from Daoud to show them as a majority. Because Pashtuns do not form a majority and it is difficult to make Pashtuns a majority in a transparent and legal census, the census process has been put on hold by ethnic governments since the time of Daoud, and whenever the question of a census comes up, the process comes to a standstill. This suspension and stalemate will continue until the government can show Pashtuns as a majority in the census, or until it fills northern Afghanistan with enough Pakistani Pashtuns to make Pashtuns a majority. Although the Ministry of Borders and Tribal Affairs has been resettling Pashtuns from Pakistan to Afghanistan for many years, especially to Barikab (Kabul), Parvan, Kapisa, Kelagai (Baghlan), Badakhshan, Samangan, Balkh, etc. The creation of a majority with this resettlement also takes time. The creation of the Qushteppa Canal and the transfer of the Pakistani Pashtun Taliban there will be one of the largest historical migrations of foreign Pashtuns since the time of Mohammad Gul Momand.
I mentioned this because such truths can only be found in the writings of Soraya Bach, especially in the book Thrown to the Wind. The hidden truth of the census is one of the dozens of cases revealed in this book. Not everyone has the courage to speak such truths.
I will end this note with Aristotle's words about Plato. Aristotle said that if I had to choose between truth and my teacher Plato, I would choose truth, even though Plato is my teacher. With this quote, I want to say that Soraya Baha does not care who says what, and her choice has always been to speak and express the truth.
