Cutro tragedy: Pakistan’s field hockey captain dies

His name was Shahida Raza, he was 27 years old, and he belonged to the Hazara ethnic group, persecuted by ISIS

There are no Serie A and Serie B deaths. Tragedies like the one that saw the sea in front of Cutro return dozens of innocent victims, cross borders and transcend races, beliefs, skin color. It unites everyone in a macabre embrace. Among the 67 who died on the journey of hope transformed into a ferry to the afterlife was also Shahida Raza, a young footballer but above all captain of the Pakistan women’s national field hockey team, one of the national sports, a legacy of British colonialism.

hazaras

Shahida, known as Chinto, 27, was of the Hazara ethnic group, a population that has been persecuted for some time, in the crosshairs of many attacks by the self-styled Islamic State. They were once the predominant ethnic group in Afghanistan. Between 1891 and 1893, the then ruler of Afghanistan, Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, killed more than 62% of the Hazara population, persecuting them with brutal violence, mass killings, rape, looting, slavery and forced conversions. Some then migrated to Pakistan. Today they are victims of a genocide ignored by the world. The September 30, 2022 attack, when over 53 young Hazara male and female students, mostly women, were killed in the Kaaj Education Center in Kabul, is just the latest in a long bloody trail. More than 700 Hazaras killed in 13 ISIS attacks in just over a year.

Soccer

Shahida, as mentioned, was also a footballer. She had been playing for Balochistan United in Quetta for eight seasons, a team that became famous for trying to unite different ethnic groups in the name of integration in a nation where doing so could even cost you your life. Balochistan is also a region of Pakistan that has long been struggling to break away from the Islamic Republic. Chinto was the mother of a little girl, who – according to initial information – fortunately was not on board the sunken boat. The news of her death was confirmed by the Pakistan Hockey Federation. A name, a face, yet another stab at the heart of hope.

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