Chapter 17 - The Kerala Massacre

On April 15, 2014, I accompanied my team to support a mission at the Kunar Provincial headquarters, located in Asad Abad. As usual the place was busy, however, it was unusual to see many children with their elders roaming around in the provincial headquarters and running from one office to another. I asked a police officer “what are these kids doing here during school hours?” He replied, "They are here to get their Tazkaras (identity paper)". In Afghanistan it is now compulsory for all kids to have Tazkaras to attend their schools. When the kids saw US soldiers, they started gathering around us. While talking to the children I learned that most of them were from an elementary school in Kerala village. The name Kerala 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 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 Pech. 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 (PDPA) government, a Russian supported regime, was gaining momentum in Kunar. Many areas in the province fell to Mujahideen fighters while Asad Abad remained under 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 riverbank aiming at Asad Abad across the river. At about 2:00 AM the Mujahideen launched their attack on the security installations in Asad Abad by using light machine guns and old rifles (locally known as Markhari).

Some Mujahedeen even 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.

The next morning government forces supported by 30 tanks and several armored personnel carriers (APCs) crossed the river and surrounded the village of Kerala. All males, including teenage boys were ordered to gather in a playground next to the bridge to attend a “Shura” or a meeting. As it was Friday (weekend holiday), most of the males were at home. Women and children were directed to gather in a mosque near to the playground. The total population of the village at that time was not more than 5000. More than 1000 unarmed males were gathered in the ground surrounded by military vehicles.

After a short speech about the last night attack, the Commander of the government forces in the presence of their Russian advisors ordered the shooting of all the males that were gathered for the meeting while their families were watching them from the mosque.

Women and children saw their loved ones falling to the ground as the shooting started. Sounds of screaming and crying poured out from the mosque as women tried to reach their fallen and injured fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons but were forced to stay in 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 were buried alive as the bulldozer covered all the bodies with tons of earth. The public ground which was once a pride of the village changed to a mass grave where the female family members and children of the slain males were not even allowed to mourn at the time of burial.

According to the eyewitnesses about 1000 males were killed that day leaving behind about 4000 crying and destitute orphans and widows (Afghan Justice Project, 2005; www.afghanistan justice project.org).

After the massacre, soldiers of the regime began house to house search for any male who may be hiding. Soldiers were ordered to kill anybody on sight. Many women and children were also killed during this search. Males who survived the massacre were only those who were not present in the village at that time or those who escaped by wearing a veil and female clothing before they were asked to gather in the playground. In addition to the main site of the massacre, families who were living little away from the village center and were not asked to attend the gathering were killed in front of their houses during home-to-home search.

Habib, a resident of the village Kerala, whose father was eight years old at that time and witnessed the execution, told me that his father saw the massacre of 18 male members of his own family, including Habib's grandfather, uncles, and cousins. Habib's extended family was living about 300 yards away from the main village of Kerala in multiple compounds next to their ancestral agricultural lands. This part of the village at that time was known as "Wara Seen Ghara" meaning "small bank of the river".

The execution of his family members took place in front of their houses. According to Habib's father, on that Friday morning, his aunty who was living nearby came screaming that those soldiers had killed her husband. When the soldiers first knocked on her door her husband tried to open the door, but his wife stopped him and rushed to open the door, providing her husband an opportunity to hide or escape. Due to a delay in opening the door, soldiers started shooting at the door. A bullet hit her husband in the eye killing him instantly. Meanwhile, other soldiers knocked down Habib's grandparent’s door and took all the male family members outside at a gunpoint. 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, orphaned children and widows who were so scared that they could not even bury the dead bodies of their loved ones. The next day people from the nearby villages came and buried the dead. Many of the dead bodies were mutilated by stray dogs during the night. Now this part of Kerala village is known as "Shaheedano Killi" (a village of martyrs).

Habib's grandmother took her grandchildren and widowed daughters-in-law to a distant relative in the Marawara village across the Asmar river, after five miles of harsh walk. After staying with them for a couple of days the relatives helped them move to a refugee’s camp in Khar, Bajaur Agency, Pakistan. Habib's father spent about 20 years in various refugee camps in Pakistan before coming back to his village Kerala. At the age of 10 at a refugee camp he was married to his two cousins whose husbands were killed in the massacre because no adult male was left in the family. Habib also said that the females in his family who witnessed the massacre were still haunted by the memories of that horrible day. They have flashbacks when they see a dead body or learn about a death in the family.

Habib's father considered himself very lucky that he came back to his village and watched Asad Abad and surrounding areas flourishing after decades of war. Thriving new businesses, schools and colleges in the area gives him hope of a bright, peaceful, and prosperous future for his children and grandchildren. Recently Habib’s father was running a grocery shop in Asad Abad city.

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 grave known as "Shaheedan". "Why don’t the village people talk about their village history to their kids?", I asked Habib. He replied, “It is too painful to talk about that massacre. We do not want to scare our kids. We want to show them the bright side of life. We want to move forward. We suffered for decades; we don't want them to suffer." That is the reason that even after the passage of 35 years, Habib's father still does not want to talk about the Kerala Massacre.

Note: More information regarding the Kerala incidence can be found in Afghan Justice Project Report (2005) at www.afghanjusticeproject.org