Pasture Dispute Resolution
1977 Afghan Government verdict on routing and pasturage dispute between Hazarbuz Pashtun nomads and local Hazara population. Translation:
"In response to your letter no. 2585/388, dated 8/6 1356 [Islamic solar calendar, or AD 30/8 1977], it is hereby written that after a review of previous archives, that is, the book of registration of letters concerning pasture lands, record no. 7 of the year 1306 [AD 1927] of Dayzangy, it is hereby declared that division attest //, that is, pasture land and route of passage of the Hazarbuz tribe belong to malik Abdul Shah Khan, who represents 400 families, in that a meeting of a delegation which had the task of resolving the conflict between the Pashtuns and the Hazaras with reference to separate legal written declarations to be agreed upon by both sides, confirmation and close study referred the matter to a meeting in riasat-i-tenzemah [a control organ existing when Afghanistan was divided into seven provinces] and was approved at the above-named meeting on 10/5 1306 [AD 1/8 1927].
Frederiksen, Birthe, and Ida Nicolaisen. Caravans and Trade in Afghanistan: The Changing Life of the Nomadic Hazarbuz. London: Thames and Hudson, 1996. Page 77 (and 76 for the translation of the document). Image used with permission of Rhodos International Science and Art Publishers. See http://www.rhodos.com/.
"In response to your letter no. 2585/388, dated 8/6 1356 [Islamic solar calendar, or AD 30/8 1977], it is hereby written that after a review of previous archives, that is, the book of registration of letters concerning pasture lands, record no. 7 of the year 1306 [AD 1927] of Dayzangy, it is hereby declared that division attest //, that is, pasture land and route of passage of the Hazarbuz tribe belong to malik Abdul Shah Khan, who represents 400 families, in that a meeting of a delegation which had the task of resolving the conflict between the Pashtuns and the Hazaras with reference to separate legal written declarations to be agreed upon by both sides, confirmation and close study referred the matter to a meeting in riasat-i-tenzemah [a control organ existing when Afghanistan was divided into seven provinces] and was approved at the above-named meeting on 10/5 1306 [AD 1/8 1927].
"The case has now been investigated and scrutinized. The affidavit was presented at a consultative meeting which took place on 10/5 1306. The [Hazarbuz] camping places are Koh Sail Bean, Koh Dara Bed, and Koh Allah Sang from the outskirts of Garden Dewar of Sar Taka lengthwise along Garden Dewar and the Hazar Gash mountain, Allah Tala mountain, Siah Gular, Dara Zayarat, Sar Kamran, Sar Khahkriz, and Mount Qeshlaq.
"Their route of passage to and from their camping area by way of Sar Chesma to the Bogha Valley and from the Allah Tala Valley by way of the Valley of Bed.
"If either the Afghan or Hazara have any claim in the area of Surkh-i-Pors mountain [Surkh-o-Parsa], Langak, Dakhau, Bed Qol, and Sang, they [must] travel by way of Ghorband Road, and the area is not for living during winter. The Afghans do not have any right to graze on irrigated and unirrigated cultivated lands of the Hazaras.
"This is the affidavit from the meeting of the Department for the Regulation of Settlements which has been decided upon in the presence of the Afghans and Hazaras themselves. After the investigation and division of shares, the proportionate benefit of both sides is specified at that meeting. With this affidavit, the Hazarbuz tribe travel to the camping places by the specified paths, and while on their way and when they camp, they are not allowed to harm the arable and cultivated land of the Hazaras, nor may they [allow their animals to] graze on irrigated or unirrigated farm land and pasture lands belonging to the Hazaras.
The Hazaras of that area are Daulat Pai, related to the representative Said Aqa Khan, and the village representative Wakil Said Aqa Khan and Wakil Khan Ali. They should definitely not interfere with the territories of the Hazarbuz tribe. They should not go beyond their boundaries and should not interfere with the passage of the Afghans. Nor should they forbid Afghans from [utilizing] their specified passage way.
"This affidavit is the promissory note for the tribes of the Afghan and Hazara of this above specified vicinity.
"Any side who violates the above distribution, of course, in relation to the affidavit they have given, will be blamed and will be investigated according to the legal actions of the government.
"The document which specifies the rights to the allocations of the area was given to the legal Wakil Said Aqa Khan and to Khan Ali, the village representative of Daulat Pai, Behsood, Hazara. Three copies* of the document were given to Abdul Shah Khan, malik of the Hazar Buz Tribe.
"[In response to] the requested information, one copy of the document of the events of the subject, according to the previous records, is for you. The copy of [the] document [with your] claim is also returned to you."