The Drum of Democracy is played once again this year!

This year when the attacks of Taliban under the name of the Kochies or nomads began again in Behsood, Sharistan and Nahoor districts of Hazarajaat and forced many families to abandon their houses, the governmental officials still play their drum of democracy and make namely commissions to solve this dispute which do not function well.

Last year in these days when the Kochies attacked Hazarajaat by the direct support of the Taliban and president’s team, Academy of Art and Cinema Education produced a documentary film on this issue titled; “The drum of democracy” and screened in this center.

This documentary compared the current policies of Karzai administration like playing a drum that is interesting from outside and far distances and when you approach it, it pierces the ears and that is the drum of democracy they play for the people of the world and talk of democracy in the country and when we see the issues nearer from inside, it is just a deceiving sound of drum for the people outside and the international community.

This documentary compares the two sides of Karzai administration’s policies which protects the Taliban as a potential supportive ethnic, under the name of democracy in one side while on the other side this administration disarm the other non-Pashtoon people under the name of democracy and arms the Taliban by the name the kochies or nomads.

This documentary contains clear images of the displaced people, the burnt houses and farms and the panic that is overshadowing the area of Behsood after the Taliban attacked under the name of Kochies to this district, some people are interviewed also.

The director of this documentary entered Behsood and filmed this documentary after the Taliban Kochies temporarily retreated from the area, where still the sounds of gun shooting is heard from far away but they did not go to the front line of the Taliban kochies.

This film questions the current definition of democracy that exists in Afghanistan and asks if democracy is only for the protection of the Taliban when the president says; “in democracy every one has the right to participate in social-political decision makings of the country, even including the Taliban who are discontented with the government” or it has to be realized in bigger aspects in which all the citizens would be able to share their opinions on the important decision makings in the country, in which equality would be the norm when the rights of all citizens are being discussed, in this case no one want the Taliban back on power.

This documentary also raises many questions like; how is democracy defined in Afghanistan? Do we really have democracy in Afghanistan? Is it the democracy that the people were looking for or is it for the favor of only a specific group of people? If it is the real democracy then why no one hears the voices of people? In which democracy is it recommended to support a specific group of people against the others?

It also asks the president, if Afghanistan will be prosperous with the Taliban back on the power and then it brings the examples of five years of Taliban regimes sovereignty and asks why the current government again supports and protects those Taliban; will the Taliban help the reconstruction process of the country while they do not have anything else except killing, terrifying and intimidation in their five years period of ruling the country? Will not support of the Taliban by the name of Kochies harm the identity of the poor Kochies? Aren’t the Kochies themselves the poor - kept and misfortunate people who are misused by the Pashtoon politicians? Then if the government does not support either of the sides, it won’t be difficult to solve this dispute; it is what in this documentary discussed.

It is to say that last year in these days, some of the television channels also made some programs and documentaries about this dispute for instance Shamshad television took the side of the Kochies and defended them in this dispute while in “drum of democracy” documentary neither of the Hazaras or the Kochies is being blamed for the dispute but this reality is depicted that the Kochies are the poor, depressed and oppressed people who are being misused as object of dispute by the Pashtoon rulers in order to reach to their political goals, that is the role of a documentary film.

Finally this documentary reaches to say, considering the last decades of oppression when some specific ethnic groups were under pressure of the different regimes, if the real democracy exists now, the government should rather work for the social justice and the unity of different ethnics of the whole nation so that there won’t be any ethnic clashes because no one wants civil wars anymore in this land.