The Kerala Massacre

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By: Mohammad M. Siddiqui

On April 15, 2014 I accompanied my NGO team to visit the Kunar provincial headquarters, located in Asad Abad. This place is always busy, however it was unusual to see a large number of children along with their fathers or elder brothers roaming around, running from one office to the other. I asked a police officer “what these kids are doing here during the school hours? He replied, “they are here to get their Tazkaras (identity cards)”. In Afghanistan it is now compulsory for all kids to have Tazkaras to attend their school. When the kids noticed us they started to swarm around us. While talking to the children I learned that most of them were from an elementary school in the village Kerala. The name Kerala struck a memory in my mind and reminded me of a painful chapter of Afghan history known as, “The Kerala Massacre”. Just 5 days away was the 35th anniversary of The Kerala Massacre. Kerala is a small village located in a valley formed at the convergence of Asmar and Pech rivers. Asad Abad, the provincial center of Kunar, is located right on the other side of the river. Both, Kerala and Asad Abad are linked by a bridge, known as ” Kerala bridge”.

It was early 1979 when the resistance against People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan’s (PDPA) government was gaining momentum in Kunar province. Many areas in the province fell to Mujahedeen fighters while Asad Abad remained under the government control. On the eve of April 20, 1979 about 100 Mujahedeen from the Pech valley entered Kerala village through a dried water channel and took their positions on the river bank aiming at Asad Abad across the river. At about 2:00 AM the Mujahedeen launched their attack on Asad Abad by using light machine

guns and old rifles. Some Mujahedeen succeeded in crossing the river and entered Asad Abad. A fierce fight broke out with both sides suffering casualties, but government forces repulsed the attack in couple of hours. The next morning government forces supported by 30 tanks and a number of armored personnel carriers (APCs) surrounded the village of Kerala. All males, including teenage boys were ordered to gather in a playground next to the bridge to attend a meeting or “Shura.” As it was Friday, a weekly holiday in Afghanistan, most males were at their home. Women and children were directed to gather in a nearby mosque. The total population of the village at that time was no more than 5000. More than 1000 unarmed males were gathered and then surrounded by military vehicles. After saying a couple of words the

Commander of the government forces ordered indiscriminate shooting of all the males that gathered for the meeting while their families were watching from the mosque. Women and children saw their loved ones falling to the ground as the shooting started. Sounds of screaming and crying coming out from the mosque as women tried to run out to reach their fallen and injured fathers, brothers, husbands and sons but were forced to stay inside the mosque.

A bulldozer that had come with the government forces dug a huge ditch and pushed all the bodies into it. Many of the victims being buried were alive under tons of earth. The public ground which was once a pride of the village changed to a massive grave where the remaining family members were not even allowed to mourn. According to eye witnesses about 1000 males were killed that day leaving behind about 4000 crying and destitute orphans and widows (Afghan Justice Project, 2005; www.afghanistanjustice project.org).

After the massacre, forces began to search house to house where they were ordered to kill anybody on sight. Many women and children were killed during this search. The only males who survived the massacre were those who were not present in the village at that time or those who escaped by wearing female cloths and veil, when they saw government forces coming. In addition to the main site of the massacre, families who were living away from the main village were also killed in front of their houses. Abdul, a resident of the village Kerala told me that his father who was eight years old at the time witnessed the execution of 18 male members of his family, including Abdul’s grandfather, uncles and cousins. Abdul’s extended family was living about 300 yards away from the main population of the village in multiple compounds next to their agricultural lands. This part of the village at that time was known as “Wara Seen Ghara” meaning “small river bank”. The execution of his family took place in front of their own homes. According to the narration of Abdul’s father, on that Friday morning, his aunty who was living nearby had come to their home, screaming that soldiers had killed her husband. When the soldiers first knocked on her door her husband tried to open the door but his wife pushed him back and rushed her to open the door, thus providing her husband an opportunity to hide. Due to a delay in opening the door, the soldiers started shooting through the door. A round hit her husband in the eye killing him instantly. Meanwhile, soldiers knocked down Abdul’s grandparent’s house door and took all the male family members outside at gun point. They were ordered to stand in a line and all 18 males from the same family were killed in cold blood. The only ones left were the small, now orphaned children and widows who were so scared that they couldn’t even bury the bodies of their loved ones. The next day people from the nearby villages came and buried the dead bodies, many of the bodies were already mutilated by stray dogs during the night. Now this part of the Kerala village is known as “Shaheedano Killi” (a village of martyrs).

After the massacre the Abdul’s grandmother took her grand children and widowed daughter-in-laws to a distant relative in Marawara village across the Asmar river which they crossed on a boat followed by a five miles walk. After staying for a couple of days in Marawara, her relatives helped her to move to a refugee’s camp in Khar, Bajur Agency, Pakistan. As no adult males were left in the family Abdul father, at the age of 10 was married to his two widowed cousins whose husbands were killed in the massacre. Abdul said that the females in his family who witnessed the massacre are still haunted by the memories of that horrible day. They have flash backs when they see any dead body or learn about any death in the family.

Abdul’s father spent about 20 years in various refugee camps in Pakistan before coming back to his village Kerala in 2001. Abdul’s father considers himself very lucky that he is able to see his village and Asad Abad flourishing after decades of war. Thriving businesses, schools and colleges in the area giving him a hope of a bright, peaceful and prosperous future for his grand children. Now-a-days Abdul’s father is running a grocery shop in Asad Abad.
When I asked school kids about the Kerala massacre, they were not aware of the details but were only aware of a huge mountain like mass grave known as “Shaedaan”. “Why don’t the village people tell the history the Kerala massacre to their kids?” I asked Abdul. He replied, “It is too painful to talk about that massacre. We don’t want to scare our kids. We want to show them the bright side of our life. We want to move forward. We suffered for decades; we don’t want them to suffer”. Even after the passage of 35 years, Abdul’s father still remembers the hardships and feels the pain caused by the Kerala massacre, but doesn’t want to talk about it.
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Dr. M. Siddiqui is a PhD in Animal Sciences from Texas Tech University. He served as a Professor at KPK Agricultural University, Pakistan for 15 years. He also worked as an advisor at various places in Afghanistan for 8 years.

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