Draft:Abdul Manan Niazi
| Abdul Manan Niazi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name | Abdul Manan Niazi |
| Other Names | Mullah Niazi |
| Personal Details | |
| Birth Place | Afghanistan |
| Brith Date | {{{birth_date}}} |
| Death Place | Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Death Date | 11 May 2021 |
Abdul Manan Niazi was the deputy of Mullah Muhammad Rasul, the leader of the breakaway faction of the Taliban following the death of Mullah Omar. He was a member of the group that protested the appointment of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. After Mullah Muhammad Rasul disappeared in March 2016, he assumed leadership of this Taliban faction.
Activities
He was directly responsible for the genocide of Hazara Shiites in Balkh Province, centered in Mazar-i-Sharif, and likely the killing of diplomats from the Islamic Republic of Iran in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The exact number of individuals killed by him during that time is not known. However, it has been stated that more than twelve thousand civilian Shiites were killed by him and his subordinates during the recapture of Mazar-i-Sharif. Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist who was in Mazar-i-Sharif during those years, wrote in his memoirs that during the Taliban group's attack on "Mazar-i-Sharif", Mullah Niazi shouted from mosque loudspeakers: "Hazaras are not Muslims; either become Muslims or leave Afghanistan, otherwise you will be killed. Wherever you go, we will catch you. If you go underground and hide, we will pull you out by your hair; if you go to the sky, by your feet. Shiites of Mazar! You have three choices: 'Either become Sunni, go to Iran, or die'." A published documentary on the Taliban massacre in Mazar-i-Sharif showed that individuals affiliated with Mullah Niazi had written on the walls of Mazar-i-Sharif: "Tajiks to Tajikistan, Uzbeks to Uzbekistan, and Hazaras to the graveyard." Furthermore, Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi's footprint is also visible in the hostage-taking and killing of Hazaras in 2015 in Zabul Province. At the time when the breakaway faction of the Taliban group was being formed, Shiite travelers on the route from Kabul to Herat were repeatedly taken hostage and killed in areas within Zabul Province. At that time, responsibility for these hostage-takings was mainly attributed to ISIS, but later Mullah Niazi himself confessed to the killing of Shiites and said, "I kill Shiites every day in a new way that they themselves never understand." In August 2020, Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi accused Shiites of supporting Fatimiyoun Brigade operatives inside Afghanistan and threatened them with death. Recently, he also made very insolent statements against Hazara Shiites and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In a clip of his speeches published on social media, he warned Afghan Hazara Shiites that if they do not stop supporting Iran, he will burn their houses and burn them alive, stating, "This is Afghanistan, not Iraq or Syria."
Death
Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi was wounded in an armed ambush around the city of Herat on 11 May 2021 and was transferred to Kabul for treatment, but died due to the severity of his injuries. Mullah Niazi's body was buried on 15 May 2021, after a funeral procession by a group of armed Taliban individuals from Mullah Rasul's group in Herat city, next to the tomb of Khwaja Abdullah Ansari in Herat city[1].