Melee Between Shiite and Sunni Students Over Religious Custom Adds to Concern Over Coalition's Exit
By MARIA ABI-HABIB And ZIAULHAQ SULTANI
KABUL—Afghanistan's sectarian tensions boiled over this weekend when university students split between the two main Muslim sects attacked each other, leaving one dead and 27 wounded, and stoking fears the violence could reopen old civil-war fault-lines.
Students commemorating Ashura—a Shiite religious day of mourning—were prevented by their Sunni peers from celebrating at dormitories housing students from four of Kabul's major universities, both Shiite and Sunni students said.
The students say they were being discriminated against for their religious beliefs and called in reinforcements from nearby Hazara communities, which are predominantly Shiite. Hundreds of people, not all of them students, were involved in the clashes.
After Saturday's bloodshed, Afghanistan's ministry of higher education suspended classes at all four universities, including Kabul University, for 10 days, to fix the damage at the campus and to wait for tensions between students to cool, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said. Students living at the dormitories have been asked to find temporary accommodation....Continue Reading...
By MARIA ABI-HABIB And ZIAULHAQ SULTANI
KABUL—Afghanistan's sectarian tensions boiled over this weekend when university students split between the two main Muslim sects attacked each other, leaving one dead and 27 wounded, and stoking fears the violence could reopen old civil-war fault-lines.
Students commemorating Ashura—a Shiite religious day of mourning—were prevented by their Sunni peers from celebrating at dormitories housing students from four of Kabul's major universities, both Shiite and Sunni students said.
The students say they were being discriminated against for their religious beliefs and called in reinforcements from nearby Hazara communities, which are predominantly Shiite. Hundreds of people, not all of them students, were involved in the clashes.
After Saturday's bloodshed, Afghanistan's ministry of higher education suspended classes at all four universities, including Kabul University, for 10 days, to fix the damage at the campus and to wait for tensions between students to cool, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said. Students living at the dormitories have been asked to find temporary accommodation....Continue Reading...
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